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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401360">Bulletproof</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions/pseuds/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions'>alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Family Fluff, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, No Apocalypse (Umbrella Academy), Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Number Five | The Boy has PTSD, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Protective Siblings, Suicide Attempt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:08:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>32,020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401360</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions/pseuds/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Seventeen years ago, Five ran out of the academy with fierce, pride and enthusiasm.</p><p>Today, he returned from a horrible place where he was tortured, neglected and abused every day. He came back looking like a miserable and scared 17 years old boy with PTSD, amnesia and severe injuries. </p><p>What happened to him?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Number Five | The Boy &amp; The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy), Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) &amp; Everyone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>87</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>637</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were all standing outside in the backyard, anxiously watching the chaotic blue hole cover their heads. </p><p>It all stopped and went quiet again when a body flew out of it and fell flat on the ground. The Hargreeves siblings got closer to the person on the floor, it looked like a body small enough to belong to a middle school child. They stopped in front of the bony kid laying face down on the ground wearing a large dirty shirt, some old trousers, and no shoes. </p><p>When the boy groaned all six siblings stepped back, prepared for anything even if the individual looked too weak to attack them. </p><p>He finally looked up at them with a strange expression of fear and a bloody looking black eye. His dark buzz-cut hair was dusty, his clothes were soaked from the rain, his skin was as pale as a ghost and he was shaking from the cold. </p><p>Klaus was the first to point it out what they were all thinking “Is it just me or is that little Number Five?” </p><p>It was an almost unrecognizable version of their brother, Number Five had always being prideful, elegant and aloof, but right now he looked nothing more than pitiful.</p><p>Luther pointed out the obvious “He looks so young…” and at that exact moment, the boy’s eyes rolled up and he fell completely unconscious. </p><p>Allison’s motherly instinct kicked in and she started giving orders “Luther, pick him up and get him inside!” she yelled and turned to Klaus “Go find some blankets!” and then to Vanya “Go look for mom!” she finished her commands and everyone obeyed. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Once inside, Luther placed their smallest brother on the couch close to the fireplace to warm him up. Klaus rushed into the room with the blankets and towels, like he was told to, and placed them carefully over the boy. The rest of the family all sat on different seats around the kid. </p><p>Ben was sitting right beside Five, he was invisible to everyone except for Klaus who was listening to his worrying comments, “He looks so skinny like he hasn't eaten in months!” </p><p>Vanya came in last with a little scandal “Mom doesn’t want to come! She says she has to make more cookies.” She finished irritated by their mom’s weird new attitude. </p><p>They didn’t have much time to handle their mom before their former missing brother jumped awake screaming in anguish “NOOOOOOOOO!” with his green eyes looking too big for his face and blood leaking from his red nose.</p><p>Everyone focused on him, he stopped screaming and cleaned his nose with his sleeve. Five looked around with a disoriented expression, he didn’t seem to recognize any of them. </p><p>The other Hargreeves just stared in silence without knowing what to say, until Diego got up and approached Five slowly. He got to the couch with his hands in the air to show he means no harm, and he asked warmly “Five? Is it you? Are you okay?” </p><p>Little Number Five was now looking down at his own bare feet, he was whispering gibberish and shaking his head right and left. He refused to look up at Diego so the older one lowered himself and angrily tried to get his attention “Hey! Where have you been? It’s been seventeen years!” </p><p>Five flinched violently at Diego’s loud voice “I’m sorry sir, I shouldn’t have screamed, I’m sorry, please don’t punish me” he hiccupped. Fearful tears ran down his pale checks while the older ones all felt their hearts in their throats. </p><p>Diego was in the verge of tears as well, he whispered “Five…What the fuck happened to you?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Confused</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Five has no idea who these people are or where he is...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Idk where I'm going with this but I hope someone likes it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Five is sitting on a cozy couch, he feels warm for the first time in so long, trying to remember the last time he woke up outside of his tiny dark cell. He keeps his face down, glancing only at the unfamiliar five pairs of feet around him and the odd-looking rug. </p><p>(He’s not allowed to look into people’s eyes, or else he’ll get punished.)</p><p>He knows this must be another test, so he doesn’t let himself get comfortable. The five people are talking nervously amongst themselves while Five sat still waiting for a command. </p><p>(He’s not allowed to move without permission, or else he’ll get punished.) </p><p>He sees delicate shiny high heels approaching him, followed by a hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch violently. He’s not used to being touched this softly, he sobs again “I’m sorry, ma’am.” </p><p>“Five, stop apologizing, please. It’s just us, your siblings. I’m Allison, remember?” He has no idea who she is, the only thing in his head is the darkness, the cold, the screams and the pain from only a couple hours ago. He shakes his head again but doesn’t speak.</p><p>(He’s not allowed to talk without permission, or else he’ll get punished.) </p><p>The woman, Allison, turns her feet around to face the others and asks “What’s wrong with him? Why is he acting so weird?”</p><p>Five could see a huge pair of boots coming at him, the man stopped beside Allison. Five got noticeably terrified because he knew bigger men always hit harder. The man asked roughly “Five? Aren’t you going to talk? Who did this to you?” </p><p>Tears continued rolling down his face and he started trembling uncontrollably. He hears a lighter voice in the back “Luther! Stop! You’re scaring him!” and then the voice approached him and sat right beside him. </p><p>The man was barefoot and wearing a skirt, he put his hand on Five’s back and started rubbing slowly, causing Five to shiver, he whispered “Shh, don’t cry kiddo, shhh. Hey, you’re safe now, you’re home. Five? It’s your brother Klaus! Remember me?” the man paused to gesture his hands and asked, “Can I hold your hand?” </p><p>(He’s not allowed to complain about punishment or refuse any order, or else he’ll get punished.)</p><p>So, he nods and the man takes his small bruised hand in his own. Klaus was visually perturbed when he caught a glance of Five’s disgusting short nails full of dirt and his purple fingers from what seem like intense slapping. He tries to mention it without agitating the mood “Buddy, you might need a manicure…”</p><p>At this point, Five was just confused. He didn’t recognize that place or any of the voices surrounding him, this was certainly the weirdest test they had ever given him. </p><p>The only person in the room who hadn’t approached him yet, a short woman with a large shirt who talked with a delicate voice “I can’t believe it’s him”. Five glares at her small shoes, still not wanting to look above anyone’s waists, she continued “He looks horrible.” </p><p>Allison hissed “Vanya!” and then kneeled down to his height and tried to make him talk “Five, sweetie, do you need something? Some food? Water?” </p><p>Honestly, Five was starving and very thirsty but he still avoided her eyes and didn’t answer, ignoring his growling belly and his sore throat. </p><p>(He’s not allowed to ask for privileges, or else he’ll get punished.) </p><p>Klaus, still holding his hand, joked in a high tone “I’d offer him a bath!” </p><p>Allison sighed in agreement “He does smell fishy.”</p><p>Luther stepped up again “You’re not doing it alone, he could be dangerous!” </p><p>Vanya spoke in a mock tone “He’s not a dog, he won’t bite.” </p><p>Luther glared “You don’t know that”</p><p>Diego stepped in to play the hero “Okay, I’ll help him. He can’t stay wet and dirty any longer.”</p><p>Klaus got up from beside Five “Ok then, let’s go buddy!”</p><p>Five put his bruised red wrists up, waiting to be handcuffed. He was never transported from a room to another without handcuffs, neither was he left alone in his cell without chains. </p><p>Diego knew that pose, he asked slowly “Five, what are you doing?”</p><p>Five was still looking down when he answered as politely as he could “Waiting for the handcuffs, sir” </p><p>(He’s not allowed to disrespect anyone, or else he’ll get punished. )</p><p>Vanya covered her mouth and looked away “Oh my god”. She was praying for all this to be a bad dream. Five used to be her anchor, the only person who listened to her and who cared about her. The departure of her best friend marked her like nothing else and seeing him after so long was making her head go to all sort of places </p><p>Diego put Five’s wrists back down and took his shoulders instead to lead him to the bathroom “Five, no one’s going to put you in handcuffs ever again.” </p><p>Diego was clueless as to who was responsible for his little brother’s crazy behavior, but he was ready to beat that bastard’s ass.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Once upstairs, Klaus turned on the water to prepare a hot bubble bath. He was talking non-stop about unusual topics to get some conversation out of Five, but he was failing. </p><p>Diego was more straightforward, as soon as he entered with his hands on Five’s shoulder he closed the door behind them and turned the heater of the room up so their brother wouldn’t freeze to death. He started giving Five directions like he was a toddler, and in some ways, he was, “Ok, we’ll turn around for you to undress, okay?”</p><p>Five didn’t lose a second to take off the only two pieces of clothing he was wearing because he could never forget how bad it ended for him the last time he refused to take his clothes off after being ordered.</p><p>Klaus joked with his signature bad timing “Wow! That was fast! We have another stripper in the family!” </p><p>Diego was not joking at all “Slow down, kid. Now, get in the bathtub.”</p><p>Again, Five acted like a robot and did as he was told in less than a second. Diego was worried, Number Five had always been the rebellious one, why was he only following commands from everyone now? </p><p>Once Five was settled in the bath covered in white bubbles with his head between his knees, Klaus approached him to help and gasped when he realized the horrible state of their brother’s frame “Diego, you have to see this.”</p><p>Diego awkwardly inspected his naked brother in the bathtub. It was a heartbreaking picture. His back was filled with bloody whip marks, his arms had scratches and burn marks up and down, his legs were blue from bruises and his ribs were clearly visible against his dry skin because of how skinny he was.</p><p>Klaus and Diego breathed out in synch “Shit”</p><p>Diego jumped out of his bewildered and discreetly told Klaus “Bring me the first Aid Kit, hurry” and Klaus listened without complaining.</p><p>Diego started rubbing the mud out of the little boy, Five whimpered in pain every time Diego accidentally brushed the sponge too hard on the little marks everywhere on his body. Some were old and others were recent but they all seemed equally hurtful as if someone had kicked him to the ground. “Sorry, kiddo, where did you get all these bruises anyway?” he asked worriedly. </p><p>Five hesitantly answered, “In the cell, sir.”</p><p>Diego was obviously taken back “The cell? What cell? Who the hell was keeping you in a cell?”</p><p>Five stopped answering but Diego kept trying his best to fill the silence while cleaning him up. “You know you can talk to us. Five, do you remember us?” Five didn’t answer, he continued “How did you get blood in your hair? And where do these scars come from? Ugh, Five, you’re missing a toenail, what’s up with that?” he finished disgusted and, of course, Five didn’t answer any of his questions. </p><p>Klaus came in before he could continue, he passed the kit to Diego along with some clothes “Here it is! Also, I found some sweatpants and a shirt for him, you like them Five?” he said showing his flashy orange shirt up. </p><p>Five vaguely looked up and nodded shyly. The clothes seemed too big for him and worn out but it was better than anything he had ever worn before. </p><p>Ben, sitting beside the sink, teased Klaus and his questionable fashion style “Please don’t make him wear that, the kid has been through enough”</p><p>Klaus made a grimace and joined Diego. In a couple of minutes, Five was disinfected, cleaned and dressed.</p><p>Before directing him back downstairs to join the others, Diego held Five’s head in his hands and look right into his baggy eyes for the first time since he came back. Diego smiled with sympathy and finally hugged his little brother “I missed you Five.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I will only continue this if someone likes it so if you do please speak up! Also, If there are any mistakes don't be shy to tell me.</p><p>-with love, me</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Does he eat?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Five gets weirder every hour.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Five was wearing glittery clothes borrowed from Klaus, he was sitting uncomfortably at the end of the long dining table with six pairs of eyes on him. </p><p>It was already dark outside and they had all stayed later than expected, mostly for Five’s sake. For the first time in seventeen years, all of them were having dinner together, even Ben was present even if the ghost couldn’t eat. </p><p>The meal was prepared by Grace who still hadn’t properly acknowledged Five’s return but at least she made great lasagna. </p><p>Five wasn’t enjoying the food as much, in fact, he wasn’t eating at all. He sat with his hands under the table and frowned down at his plate. </p><p>Truth was, normally he was only allowed to have one cold grey colored meal per day and he would have to grossly gobble before it was taken away. That’s why he was so weird out by the colorful dish filled with flavors in front of him. </p><p>“Five, you haven’t touched your food” Allison sounded irritated, like a worried mother “Aren’t you even going to taste it?”</p><p>When Five didn’t answer, Vanya whispered beside him “Hey, you really should eat something, you haven’t eaten since you got here…” </p><p>Luther mumbled too “You definitely look like you need it” only to be glared by his brothers. </p><p>As in command, Five jumped in his place and rapidly picked up his fork to take a huge bite. He picked up his speed and ate faster, and faster, and faster, and before he knew it he was shoving the whole plate in his small mouth. </p><p>“You should tell him to slow down,” Ben told Klaus looking deadly serious.</p><p>Five kept going, quietly gaging in the progress, he looked absolutely psycho. His family was looking at him with open mouths, they were too confused to even move. </p><p>Loudly, Luther stood up from across the table “Five! Stop!” </p><p>By now Five was almost done, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt full. All of a sudden, he stopped eating to snap his head to the side to puke every drop of food he had just eaten. </p><p>Luther was the first to get beside him “Oh my god, can someone bring the mop and some paper towels? Five? Are you ok?”</p><p>Five’s eyes were full of regretful tears and his throat was burning in pain “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please don’t punish me! I didn’t mean to do that, I’m sorry!” </p><p>The table was still silent, no one knew how to react. Luther awkwardly tried to calm Five down while approaching him “Five, why do you think we’re going to punish you? We would never hurt you…” </p><p>Klaus talked next “And you don’t need to apologize, nobody is mad at you, okay?” </p><p>Ben hissed at Klaus “Give him some water! He must be dehydrated!” and the tall one obeyed. </p><p>Allison discreetly cleaned the shiny tears over her makeup and left “I’ll look for something to clean up” </p><p>Diego was still not talking because he knew he might break into tears, instead, he silently looked for a clean washcloth from the sink and kneeled in front of Five and wash his brother's face. </p><p>Once Allison came back, she cleaned everything in a couple of seconds and spread the room with Febreze. Within five minutes of the incident, they were all sitting back down in their former places as if nothing happened.</p><p>“Let’s try again, I made something else for you, maybe you’ll like this better.” Vanya put a second plate in front of Five. It was a simple marshmallow and peanut butter sandwich just like the one Five and her invented when they were nine. “Chew slowly and don’t take such big bites. The food is not going anywhere and there’s plenty more if you want.” </p><p>The kid inspected the sandwich and took a bite before making the weakest smile any of them had ever seen “Thank you” he whispered to Vanya. </p><p>They all ate for a few more in minutes while individually trying to make small talk. Of course, Five didn’t finish his signature sandwich because his digestive system was a true mess and he was too sleepy to keep his eyes open. </p><p>Allison, in true mama bear fashion, got up and approached Five when she noticed he was dozing “Hey, honey, you must be tired now. What if I show you your bed?” </p><p>Luther tried to cut her “But Allison, we need to talk with him! We don’t know where he has been. What if he’s in danger? And why does he look like a teenager?” he asked around aggressively.</p><p>Everyone in the room was glaring at him, except Five who was once again looking down at his borrowed socks. Diego tried to resonate with Luther in his natural bitter way “Are you serious? Have you seen him? He can barely walk! Can you let him sleep before interrogating him like a lunatic?” </p><p>Luther nodded forcefully and clumsily sat back down. Allison procced to take Five under her wings and started walking him to his childhood bed. </p><p>Right before the two left the room, Klaus shouted making Five jump in the progress “Wait! Is it actually the best option to lock him upstairs in a dusty abandoned room far away from ours when he’s like this?”</p><p>The other siblings looked at each other and shrugged. “For once, you have a point” Luther couldn't believe he was agreeing with Klaus "We need to keep an eye on him."</p><p>Klaus continued “What if we all sleep in the living room instead? Like a sleepover! We can all watch over him in case he needs us, and it’ll be the perfect way to end our family reunion day!” he finished with a more sarcastic tone. </p><p>They all looked like they wanted to turn it down for obvious reasons, but nobody could argue that they all wanted to be by Five’s side right now. All six of them were in ‘protective older sibling mode’ after only one afternoon of having a younger brother. So, seeing as no one complained against the idea, Allison nodded. </p><p>“Is that ok with you Five? If we all sleep together in the living room?” Allison asked the kid tightly holding her hand, the child nodded firmly and Allison showed a small smile “Ok then, get some PJs, blankets, and pillows. Let’s do this.” She ordered. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Vanya was the only one to leave because she had to work early the next day. The others all found a spot around the living room to babysit little Number Five. It was hilarious to see Diego dressed in Klaus’s shiny clothes too. </p><p>“Ok so we found two sleeping bags in the attic for Klaus and me, Allison and Five can both have a couch and Luther can disappear!” Diego informed when entering the cozy living room with his own blue sleeping bag. </p><p>Luther awkwardly sat on the big armchair feeling rejected “Alright, I’ll just sleep here.” </p><p>“Five, sweetie, I brought you a hoodie, you seem a little chilly.” Allison passed him a pastel pink sweater, it was way too big for her so it looked enormous on her skinny little brother. “Do you need anything else?” She kept babying him like a small child, the others had never seen her being so sweet and attentive to anyone. Motherhood had completely changed their sister. </p><p>Diego, on the other hand, had always been the protective type as kids and especially towards his ‘little’ brothers. Of course, technically they were all the same age but Number Two couldn’t help but get furious whenever Reginald did something to Four, Six or Five, and he had always been the one to make sure they didn’t kill each other.</p><p>Klaus ran into the room “I found some perfume and an untouched toothbrush! It’s all yours Fivey!” he said and handed it to the little one with a smile, without mentioning his true goal to eliminate the leftover smell of vomit on him. </p><p>Five still hadn’t talked since dinner, he was miserably shaking under Allison's embrace. He took the two things from Klaus and waited for an explanation as if he didn't know what perfume and a toothbrush were. It felt really weird for him to be able to look up at people's faces without getting slapped across the face or dragged by the hair to get punished. </p><p>Allison took his hand and lead him to the only downstairs bathroom “Let’s go, I’ll help you.” And he followed limping with his bruised legs. </p><p>Klaus, Luther, and Diego were left alone in the living room, with Ben’s ghost listening closely. They sat down on the couch and tried to process all the events from the day. </p><p>“I can’t believe Five’s back” Klaus mumbled. </p><p>Luther followed “I still don’t understand how he’s just a teenager.” </p><p>Diego got angry once more “Is that really your main concern? Five came back from god knows were with injuries from head to toes, and that’s the only thing you worry about?”</p><p>Luther raised his voice “No! I’m trying to prepare for anything, I care about everyone’s safety! Someone could be after him, they’ll come looking for him if we don’t do something.”</p><p>Klaus sighted in disagreement “Maybe but the first thing we need to do is make sure he’s okay, he’ll tell us everything when he’s better.”</p><p>Diego nodded "I’m with Klaus, he should just rest for now,” </p><p>Luther didn’t have time to fight back because Allison came back dragging Five by the arm “Okay Five, this one is all yours” she pointed at one of the two couches. </p><p>Five looked unsure about what to do, he seemed to think someone was going to hurt him if he did the wrong move. Finally, he sat on it and looked at them for approval. </p><p>“Ok, here’s your pillow and here’s your blanket” Allison calmly forced his slim body to lean horizontally on the couch and put the soft blanket over him.</p><p>Diego approached the kid laying rigidly “Klaus and I will be sleeping right beside you on the floor, Allison’s going to be on the other couch and Luther will be right over there” he finished pointing at each sibling.  </p><p>For once, Luther tried to be welcoming “If you need anything you can wake any of us up, okay?”</p><p>Five nodded at the large man in the armchair, feeling slightly less threaten by his height. </p><p>Klaus was the last to speak before settling in his purple sleeping bag beside Diego's “Sweet dreams, tiger.” He kissed his brother’s forehead, tapped his super short hair and turned off the lamp.</p><p>The child batted his eyelashes at them and tried to understand why everyone had been so nice to him for a whole day. He doesn’t remember the last time he was served a full meal, the last time he had warm water to clean himself, the last time someone properly cleaned his injuries, the last time his saliva didn’t taste like blood, the last time he spent a day without getting screamed at, choked by the chains or touched by someone.</p><p>Five did not know what it felt like to have sweet dreams, through the night he keeps remembering the atrocities he lived through in the hell hole. At least now he knew that after his daily nightmare he would wake up to be comforted by what he imagined love felt like.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>He's gonna have a very bad nightmare :(<br/>Soon you'll know what Five has been through!<br/>Did you like this one?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. I heard a rumour</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Five wakes up from a nightmare and gets interrogated by his family.<br/>(or, this is going so good and I'm scared of screwing it up)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hate this and it's pretty long- but I promise it'll get better!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sleeping on the couch, Five looked like a cute teddy bear, but his head was mayhem.</p><p>“No, no, stop, no, no” he whispered in his sleep as he tottered on the couch.<br/>
He was having a bad dream, or more like a flashback. He was reliving the oldest memory he had, it caused him aghast.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In his dream, Five was laying on the floor where he had just woken up with blood dripping from his legs and forearms. He looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar place, it was dark and the lack of air circulation was suffocating him. The chain around his ankle was incredibly tight, and the shock collar around his neck was itching. His back was sore from his bad position on the floor. His stomach made sounds of hunger and his head hurt.  </p><p>“Good morning sleeping beauty” a firm voice made the kid look up and realize e had company, two older people had gotten in his cell while he was lost in his thoughts. One was a tall woman in a large black dress and vibrant red high heel shoes, the other was a scary man with a red beard and an expensive-looking suit “It’s nice to properly meet you” </p><p>Five clumsily got up and put his fists up in defense “Who the hell are you?”</p><p>The man smiled and answered “I’m the Commander, the head of our organization, and this is my dear friend the Handler, my trustworthy right hand” he finished pointing at the woman beside him.</p><p>Five was confused, question after question popped up in his head “What organization? Where am I?”</p><p>“Calm down handsome” the woman laughed and calmly answered “It’s called ‘The Commission’, we’re a very special bunch and I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to work here. You’re very special to us, you’re our gold mine boy, so we need your collaboration.” </p><p>Maybe it was his headache, or dehydration, or how intimidated he was by these two people, but Five couldn’t keep his focus on what was going on “Let me out! Now!” he yelled.</p><p>The Handler laughed once again, mocking his failed attempt to sound manly “Let me ask you a question sweetheart, what’s your name?”</p><p>The boy instantly opened his mouth but nothing came out, his eyebrows almost touched his eyes as he searched deep in his mind… he knew he had a name, obviously, but he couldn’t remember what it was “I- I don’t know”</p><p>“Okay” she looked proud of herself, delighted, it was sick “and can you remember your family? Or where you lived? »</p><p>Five frowned, too flabbergasted to answer he just whispered to himself “No, I can't" </p><p>The commander smiled presumptuously "I can't believe it worked"</p><p>The handler laughed “It doesn’t matter, the only thing you need to know is that you have nowhere to go. This is your home now.”  </p><p>By now, the kid was shaking, he was scared. Actually, he was terrified, and he was using all the strength left in his body to hold back his tears. </p><p>The commander approached him slowly “There are rules to follow here, so you better listen carefully.” In the matter of milliseconds, the man grabbed the kid’s shoulders and kneed him as hard as he could, right on his private parts. Even after thirteen years of training with four superhero brothers and a crazy dad, little number Five had never experience that sort of pain. At that moment, he understood what was coming. </p><p>The Handler started delicately humming every rule “It’s pretty simple: you do as we say, you must follow orders at all times with absolutely no exceptions. We don’t allow any sort of disrespect, which means you better be polite and look down when we’re talking to you.” </p><p>At that moment Five felt a second strike, the commander grabbed his hair and ruthlessly pushed his head down making the kid cry “You heard the lady, look down.” </p><p>The Handler just stood and laughed, they were freaking sadists. She continued “I don’t want to hear you talk. Which means no whining, no complaining, and certainly not asking for privileges. You’ll get food and water when we think you deserve it, and when you don’t… well, you’ll see. Oh, and most importantly, if you ever even think about escaping, the consequences will be worse than death.” </p><p>Five was sniffing, trying to avoid sobbing. From then on, his life only went from bad to worst every single day.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Five's red eyes shot open when it was far from the worst dream he’s had but it made his jitter. That was the furthest his memory went, the day he met the two people he hated the most, the two people who had hurt him in any way possible.</p><p>“Fivey, are you awake?” From behind the couch, Klaus was creepily staring at him with wide eyes only an inch away of his face, he was wearing an over showing bathrobe and smelled like marijuana.</p><p>“Yeah” the kid was beginning to understand that he could talk without getting violated. He sat up on the couch and looked around the empty living room “Where is everyone?” </p><p>Klaus sat beside him on the couch and passed him a cup of tea “Oh Allison and Luther woke up early, they must be up to something. Diego just went upstairs to shower, so we’re alone” </p><p>Five quietly looked at the pink liquid in the cup, it smelled amazing but he had never tried something like that. Five slowly tried a sip of it and instantly burned his tongue “Ouch!” and spilled some of it on the pink sweater Allison had borrowed him “I’m sorry”</p><p>"It’s okay, Five” Klaus refused the urges to roll his eyes, atone was not a good look on Five. “Did you sleep well?”</p><p>Five nodded enthusiastically, looking a lot more alive after seven hours of sleep of sleeping on something softer and warmer than rocks.</p><p>“Hey, did you have a bad dream?” Klaus asked and raised one eyebrow. Five looked up at him with a confused expression, for a moment he adorably thought Klaus was some sort of wizard who could see into people’s head. Klaus smiled “cause you were talking and moving in your sleep, you looked a little ninja.”</p><p>Five looked down apologetically “Did I wake you guys up?”</p><p>“No, no, no! Honey, it’s okay. I just want to make sure you’re fine. You seemed a little upset... ” Klaus stopped himself from rambling too much when he noticed how Five was now nervously playing with the sleeves of the pink sweeter  "Do you want to talk about it?"</p><p>Five was hesitant, from one day to another he went from living with tape on his mouth to living with five people who would pay to hear him talk “It was about the commission, about my first week there.” </p><p>Even if his little brother looked forlorn, Klaus was happy to see finally hear him sharing “Mmm, what’s ‘the commission’?” </p><p>Five was incisive about explaining that topic, part of him still thought he was in a weird long test “It’s the place where I was held captive” </p><p>It was known that Klaus couldn’t control himself, so he didn’t even try to reserve his urges to ask what exactly happened to his baby brother “Five, what did they do to you in that place?” </p><p>Five felt under pressure, his breathing was getting heavy and his hands were shaking again. He looked like he was trying to make a sentence but the only sound coming from his was “I-I…” </p><p>For once, Klaus kept some boundaries and chose to back off when he noticed how Five avoiding looking into his eyes again. Klaus understood that he didn’t want to talk about it and chose to stop asking questions to not make him feel uncomfortable. At least they were making some kind f progress “Okay buddy, do you want me to help make breakfast?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus was surprisingly not an entire disaster in the kitchen, considering the food was eatable. It took him an hour to cook ten pancakes, but that was probably because he prattled and sang the whole time while poor little Five stood beside him and assist the entire show. Five even sat the table up like he was told, with cute napkins, fresh fruits, and maple syrup. </p><p>The first one to enter the kitchen was Luther “Why didn’t you just let Mom cook?” </p><p>Klaus dramatically rolled his eyes “Mom is still recharging, so you can enjoy my banquet made with love!” </p><p>Next to enter was Diego, already fully dressed in his depressing black clothing “Klaus made that? Hell no, I’ll just wait until lunch.”</p><p>“Then starve!” Klaus was now straight up mad “At least my favorite brother likes it” he winked at Five who had his mouth full of berries. </p><p>Five did not look up, he wasn’t familiar with anyone addressing him as family, plus he was busy stuffing his face with berries. </p><p>The last one to walk in was Allison, she had monopolized the bathroom to get a shower and put on make-up “Good morning guys” </p><p>Suddenly they felt back at square one, sitting together around a table without knowing what to say. </p><p>Luther loudly cleared his throat and put on a fake tough face “Five” </p><p>Five’s head snapped up and for a second he looked s disoriented as the previous day “Yes?” </p><p>“We don’t know how much time we have, so you better tell us where were you? What happened to you?” </p><p>Five sighted and just looked down at his shaking hands. He went into mute mode again, ignoring all questions and pretending he wasn’t allowed to talk. He didn’t feel strong enough to talk about it. </p><p>Diego overshadowed Luther and took a stand “We don’t want you to pressure you, we know it’s a delicate subject, but if we also want to help you. You need to talk to us Five, we only want to keep you safe.”</p><p>Another long moment of silence passed, Luther lost his patience “Why aren’t you speaking to us? What are you hiding?” </p><p>Five flinched, suddenly remembering what happened at dinner the night before. Allison got visibly mad and hissed at the blond man “Luther! Calm down!” </p><p>Luther let out a loud sight of disappointment and turned to face directly at his sister “Ally, you need to rumor him. Otherwise, we’ll never know what’s going on” </p><p>“No way, I told you I wasn’t doing that anymore” She was hysterically mad, stressing Five out even more. </p><p>“I’m with Luther” for the first time in an entire decade, Diego agreed “If we want a chance to help him, we need to know what’s going on.” </p><p>Allison’s voice was louder than any of the boys’ “No! We need to be patient; he needs to trust us and be comfortable enough to talk to us by himself. Guys I can’t just force him-” </p><p>“Yes you can.” Klaus cut her off with a more understanding tone, he whispered to avoid Five hearing him “Allison, I'm sorry but he looks helpless enough. I already tried to talk to him it does not work, we need to do something fast.”</p><p>Allison crossed her arms and glared at each of her brothers, she didn’t think it was the right thing to do but she understood their point very well. She had to be back in California by the weekend to fight for her daughter, she couldn’t leave without knowing her brother was safe and getting better. </p><p>“Please?” Luther gave her the same puppy dog eyes that he used to make when they were children. Even if Allison was the manipulative one in the family, Luther could get her to do whatever he wanted with that look.</p><p>Allison finally agreed and moved her chair to sit right besides Five, she held both his hands and look straight into his eyes “I heard a rumor you answered all our questions.”</p><p>Five’s eyes snapped up, their color had turned grey. Suddenly his expression changed completely; he looked like an emotionless robot, dead inside. “I will”</p><p>Allison sighed and sat back on her seat, looking at Five with guilt in her eyes. Klaus was the firsts to ask a question, repeating the one Five had drily answered earlier “Five, can you tell us more about the commission?”  </p><p>He answered quickly in his old voice, the confident and loud one attached to his egocentric thirteen years old self “As I told you, it’s the organization that was holding me hostage. They’re located in a huge fancy building in a small city, but I don’t exactly know where since they never let me out. I don’t know what their goal was neither, they always kept me in the dark.”</p><p>Klaus nodded and asked a follow-up question, an obvious one just to test Five “Did they hurt you over there?” </p><p>Five sniffed and swallowed hard “Yes, they treated me like shit,” he said simply making everyone’s eyes widen. Forced to speak, he continued “It was horrible, I hated every single moment. They kept me in a little cold cage in a dark basement, I was always chained to the wall and I wasn’t allowed to make a sound. They had several stupid rules to follow, and they would only feed me if I followed them perfectly… but if I didn’t I would get punished.”</p><p>“What kind of punishment?” Diego was now taking over the questions, looking on edge.</p><p>“Sometimes it was sophisticated enough, they made me clean bathrooms with a toothbrush, fold laundry or mop the kitchen. Other times, they would tie me to a chair for days or hang me upside down for hours. When they wanted something important from me they would electrocute me with a shock collar, or drown me in cold water until I passed out. The worst times were when they made it completely physical, they would kick me to the ground, or use me as a punching bag, or whip me like a freaking animal-”</p><p>“W-Why…” Diego cut him on, not wanting to hear more about his little brother’s misery. He was stuttering again, destroyed by the thought of little Number Five’s feeble body getting abused by a bunch of psychotic strangers “Why did they treat you like that? What did they want from you?”</p><p>“I’m not sure, but they said I was important to them. Every single day they would make experiments on me.” </p><p>“What kind of experiments?” </p><p>“Well, I never remember all of the stories because they would drug me to stay subdued. I do remember that every morning they would manhandle me into weird rooms and tie me up with cables and machines stick to my body. Once or twice a day, they would interrogate me and force him to complete complicated math equations, weird exams, or puzzles.” The kid paused to chuckled ironically and his expression got a little sadder “I have no idea how I was capable to do all that, I can’t explain how… it was just in my nature.” </p><p>At that moment, the four older siblings along with Ben’s ghost all realized how they had missed such an important point “Hold on, how could you be locked in a cell for god’s knowhow long if you can teleport?”</p><p>This time, the kid’s chuckle was a lot more sarcastic, another side of Five they weirdly missed “Believe me, I tried. At first I didn’t remember I had powers but when the commission started experimenting on them it made me stronger until I felt good enough to try to run away. It never worked, I tried multiple ways, I did everything I could but for some reason, I could never get far enough to escape. Every time the punishment could get worst, and after a couple of times I just couldn’t do it anymore, it felt useless.” </p><p>“I’m sorry to hear that shorty” Klaus still had his arms protectively wrapped around Five, worried he would start crying again. </p><p>Luther was next to question him “Do you think they’re coming here to get you? Are they dangerous?” </p><p>Allison elbowed him right before Five answered “I have no idea, but it wouldn’t surprise me. If they do come, it’s going to end badly. They have a lot of people working for them, and they can be reckless when they want something”</p><p>“Shit.” All four adults said under their breath, preoccupied over how much time they had to figure out a plan to fight an entire organization who’re going after their little brother. </p><p>To avoid another awkward moment of silence, Allison precipitated to ask her question. The one she had on the tip of her tongue the entire time “Five, don’t you remember us at all?” </p><p>Five shrugged “No, I don’t know any of you, and I still have no idea where I am right now. I don’t remember my life before the commission…” he looked an Allison and frowned when he saw a tear rolling down her cheek “I’m so sorry. </p><p>“It’s okay Five, It’s not your fault.” She sounded serene, but her mind was turning in circles trying to figure out how the hell did they erase his whole life just like that. “Hey, there’s something I want to show you” </p><p>Allison got up and left the kitchen to look for something in the living room. She came back soon with a suspicious dusty picture from in her hands, the sound of her high heels echoed through the house. </p><p>She sat back down and passed it to Five, it was a photo of seven little toddlers sitting on a couch Five took the picture on his hands “This is the oldest picture of us in this house, we were about four years old. This is me, Vanya, Diego, Klaus, Ben, Luther, and… this is you. We were really close, we did everything together; play, eat, train, and especially fight.” </p><p>Five couldn’t keep his eyes of the picture, his older siblings were all looking at him with smiles on their faces “It seems great” </p><p>Allison made a weird groan “Yeah but it wasn’t perfect; our mom is a robot, our dad was kind of an ass, and our Buttler is a monkey” she paused to admire Five’s priceless expression of disbelief “but even after all we went through, we were lucky to have each other and we missed you so much, Five. The day you walked out was devastating. We used to sit together after curfew every day for weeks waiting for you to come back, but when you didn’t we assumed you had abandoned us… we’re sorry Five.” </p><p>Five was starting to understand this bunch of strangers a little better, Is this was trust feels like? </p><p>Klaus put his arm around his little brother “And we’re sorry you had to go through all that, shorty” </p><p>The room went silent, this time it wasn’t awkward, it was just sorrowful. Five’s eyes were full of tears again, he was a strong boy but his empathy was one of his biggest weaknesses, so when he heard how Allison started crying he couldn’t hold it in anymore. </p><p>His sister got up from her chair, walked to him and kneeled in front of Five. She held both his hands and smiled before looking into his eyes “Five Hargreeves, I heard a rumor you remembered everything.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next up: Five's memories over the years...<br/>SEASON 2 COMING ON JULY 31 AHHHHHHHH WE FINALLY HAVE A DATE!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Memories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Five remembers everything.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This one is cute but kinda random and long, I swear the last ones are more entertaining.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Five Hargreeves, I heard a rumor you remembered everything” and just like that, everything came back to him and hit him like a truck.</p><p>As the memories played back in his head, Five’s mind sickly focused on all the times he had been hurt before.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Luther and Five were fraternal twins.</p><p>Reginald kept it from them, but it was obvious the two had a special bond. When they were babies, Five would teleport to Luther's side at any given opportunity. They strangely took their first steps at the same time, and they said their first words on the same day (Luther’s was “star” and Five’s was “shit”). The two toddlers were never seen apart, they were inseparable.</p><p>“Would you help me with my space ship?” Luther asked his brother after their training was over.</p><p>“What is it for?” Five seemed unimpressed, he didn’t even look up from his coloring book.</p><p>“Just for fun” Luther shrugged, he was always the innocent one, the childish one “We can play with it after, it’s a protection against aliens” he giggled adorably.</p><p>Five’s eyes were filled with mischief when he closed the coloring book “Number Four, Number Six and Number Two could be the aliens”</p><p>And off they went, they sat down around Five’s minuscule orange table and started arranging the pieces of the Lego space ship. Five was thorough with his every move while One was clumsily and mangle. The blondie even took a break to decorate their ship with random animal stickers. “It looks great!”</p><p>The boys even had their original way to communicate, maybe it had something to do with their unusual birth but they seemed to have a sort of twin telepathy. Five would just think about it <em>Number One, could you pass me a green block, please?</em></p><p>And Luther would understand, kneel down and grab one from his pile before passing it to his brother Here you go!</p><p><em>Thank you</em> no taking needed, twin power all the way.</p><p>Their little complot, unfortunately, had a due date, it was the day they had their first fight.</p><p>It took an hour before they finished, One was the first to pick it up in his small hands “Wow it looks so cool! I’m going to show it to Three” and it only took a couple of steps for him to trip and drop the newly finished toy. The thing exploded, it broke in a million pieces making a big sound.</p><p>“ONE! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!” Five screamed with his most annoying high pitched tone, his face was red with rage and disappointment.</p><p>“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!” Luther was just as upset, he felt like guilty and his brother wasn’t making it any easier.</p><p>“YOU’RE AN IDIOT!” It was no secret that Five didn’t know how to handle emotions, but he wasn’t actually mad about the toy, he just wished his brother would stop destroying their belongings.</p><p>One wasn’t the aggressive type, he was the calmest toddler in the academy. Although this time it was different because Five had never insulted him before. The brown-haired one had always been rude and mean, it was his nature, but he had and caring and understanding towards his twin brother.</p><p>One looked angry too now, took a big stop, and pushed Five with all his strength, rage burning inside of him.</p><p>Luther knew he was unusually strong because he was accidentally breaking things day and night, but not once had he ever hurt any of his siblings. Which is why he wasn’t expecting his push to send Five flying across the room and land on the floor after hitting his head against the bed’s wood footboard.</p><p>Five just laid still like a lifeless stick, tears were running down his pale face and his sudden difficulty to breathe made it impossible for him to make any sound. Luther’s state of panic made it impossible for him to move, he just stared at his brother in guilt.</p><p>The first one to rush into the bedroom was Pogo, he froze when he got a glimpse of the blood “Oh dear-” he rapidly kneeled to pick the smallest boy up “Don’t worry Master Five, you’re going to be okay.”</p><p>Turns out Five had a concussion, he was thankfully okay after a weekend in the infirmary room where he got four stitches and a temporary bandage around his head. Five’s headache and dizziness made it harder for him to do just about anything, and his best friend was too ashamed to address a word to him or even just look at him in the eyes, for the first time in his life he felt disconsolate.</p><p>After that day, their father kept a close eye off on Luther to make sure he didn’t hurt someone else.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Diego and Five had never been the closest brothers.</p><p>“Identical poles push each other away” was a science lesson that really reassumed their relationship.</p><p>They had very similar personalities: they were both stubborn, arrogant, independent but secretly sweethearts, and their short tempers were their biggest flaws. The one thing that sets them apart was how Diego was above all a spontaneous momma’s boy, while Five was innovating and reserved little geek.</p><p>The two bickered from time to time but normally Diego was too busy picking fights with Luther and Allison, while Five was busy trying to kill Four. All indifferences aside, their brotherly bond was pretty normal…</p><p>…until the age of seven, when Diego almost killed Five.</p><p>It was a rainy afternoon, Five was using it to study in the living room where Diego was sitting upside down on the couch, he was making airplane planes and flying them around with his mind power.</p><p>It was fun until he got bored and had the amazing idea to porously crash the plane straight into Five’s face “Own! Dumbass you hit my eye!”</p><p>Diego snickered and begun carving another paper “Don’t move, I’m going to hit the other one now”</p><p>“You throw one more thing at me and I’ll snap your wrists” Five didn’t seem in the mood to play cocky games, he continued reading with only one eye because the other was red and stinging.</p><p>Diego internally laughed harder, he used his brother’s low guard to quietly approach him like a leopard and snap the book out of his hands. He pathetically tried to run away with it, but he didn’t even get three inches away before Five teleported took his book back before hitting him with it “OWN!”</p><p>“All you idiots always forget I can space jump” Five bickered and started walking away with entitlement.</p><p>Diego wasn’t going down without a fight, he grabbed the closest cushion and throw it at his brother.</p><p>And the war began.</p><p>After three minutes, they were pretty much just throwing anything in sight, it was all pointless and messy considering Diego was the best pitcher in existence but Five was terrific at skipping.</p><p>The living room filled with the two boys’ loud laughs, they were enjoying the only hour of freedom of the day, until it wasn’t fun anymore.</p><p>Diego got a little too carried away and ended up throwing a weird old looking vase, and of course it shattered all over the floor leaving both kids paralyzed in terror.</p><p>They heard their father’s firm footsteps enter the living room enter the room, they didn’t need to look up to know how angry he looked “Number Two, Number Five, which one of you is responsible for this?”</p><p>The two looked puzzled: Five wasn’t going to step aside and watch his brother get punished, but Diego would never let any of his siblings take the blame for him. “It was my fault” they both said in sync.</p><p>“Very well then,” Reginald straightened his back, ready to commence his horrible parenting moment of the day. Reginald took some of Diego’s knives from a near table and hand them to the kid “Number Two go stand across the room”</p><p>Diego did as he was told and then watch his father pull a rope from behind the counter “Number Five, sit on that armchair”</p><p>Five sat down, and he didn’t move or complain when his father started harshly tying him up to a chair. By the time Reginald had finished the knot, the kid couldn’t move “It hurts…” he hissed.</p><p>Reginald ignored him, and he looked proud of his crazy way of discipline “Number Two, I want you to throw each of those knives across the living room and hit the chair Number Five is sitting in, go ahead”</p><p>“What? But what if I-I m-miss” Diego was stuttering, his palms were sweating out of stress, he was scared of poking his brother’s eye with a knife this time.</p><p>“You better not.” Reginald simply said and nodded for him to commence</p><p>Diego threw the first knife, he hit the top rail of the chair right beside five’s neck.</p><p>He threw the second one and hit the arm of the chair right between Five’s fingers.</p><p>He threw the third one and hit the apron ride beside Five’s knees.</p><p>He threw another the third one, and it wasn’t as successful. Right after the knife left his hand, Diego felt an urge to sneeze and completely lost control of the knife, he was seven years old for god’s sake.</p><p>Five suffered the consequences “AAAAAAHHHHH!” he screamed as the knife stabbed him right under his bony ribs, he was too shook to feel the pain but he could feel the blood staining his uniform which only made him more terrified.</p><p>“F-Five s-s-sorry” Diego couldn’t keep his eyes out of his brother’s bleeding stomach.</p><p>Reginald glared a Diego and raised his voice “Go to your room, I don’t want to see you before your personal training tomorrow morning. It’ll be a very special session; it’ll teach you to stop breaking things.”</p><p>Diego knew what that meant, it was going to be a painful one.</p><p>Reginald didn’t wait long before taking care of the situation, he approached his other son and quickly untied him “Number Five, I hope you take this as a valuable lesson; this is what happens to liars.”</p><p>Five couldn’t really concentrate, he was constantly groaning in anguish. He didn’t really care, he would never stop lying for his siblings, he would do anything for them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t a special day by any means, just a normal Sunday afternoon where each kid nine years old kid was locked in their rooms to study and finish their weekly assignments.</p><p>Out of nowhere, Five spaced jumped into Allison’s room “Hello sister”</p><p>“What do you want?” Allison didn’t even look up from where she was painting her toenails on her bed.</p><p>“Nothing, I just wanted to check up on you” he answered with a creepy smile.</p><p>This time, Allison did look up with a look of playful disgust, not understanding what was going on “Get out Five, you’re not supposed to be here”</p><p>“Actually” Five shrugged awkwardly “I-I just wanted to ask you if you were okay. You seemed upset all day.”</p><p>A big part of the little girl was confused, Five had never seen concerned for her feelings, but some smaller part of her cherished this moment. “What?”</p><p>“Well I heard you crying last night, did something happened?”</p><p>She nodded and moved her legs to let Five sit with her on the bed “Well a week from now it’s our tenth birthday, and I was just thinking about how our lives could have been if our parents would have kept us… I wish I could meet my mom.”</p><p>Five was frowning exaggeratedly “That’s ridiculous, why would you fantasize about someone who didn’t want you? I mean, we were just a very weird one day experience to them, they probably don’t even remember us”</p><p>Allison had tears of rage in her eyes, she was staring at her brother like she could kill him “Get out.”</p><p>“No, no, no, I didn’t mean to hurt you!” The boy seemed honestly apologetically “It’s just that… I didn’t think it’s not worth it, you already have a family. Of course, it’s not perfect, we have our weird problems but would you really prefer a normal and boring biological family who didn’t want you?”</p><p>Honestly, yes, Five would like that. He would love to have a normal life, but he was trying his best to cheer his sister up. Deep down, he wouldn’t replace his siblings for anything in the world.</p><p>Five actually succeeded, Allison sniffed and cleaned her eyes from tears “No, you’re right, I love you guys.”</p><p>She tangled her arms around his neck and he awkwardly hugged her back softly “Is there anything else I can do to help?”</p><p>She devilishly smiled “Mm, would you let me fix your eyebrows? It’s always bothering me, they look too thick.”</p><p>Five stood up from her bed and prepared to space jump back to his own room “Hell no”</p><p>She grabbed his hand and pulled him back “I heard a rumor that you want me to pluck your eyebrows”</p><p>He forcefully sat back and let her take care of his face.</p><p>The process hurt, he quietly whimpered with every hair she plucked out. Once it was over, Five looked like an unattractive version of a brunette Barbie doll. The space around the eyebrows was red and burning, making it even more noticeable for his siblings to discretely laugh at him during dinner.<br/>
When Reginald heard them giggling and pointing at Five, he looked up at him and simply stated “Number Five, you’ve never looked more ridiculous” followed by the biggest outburst of laughter the kids ever had in front of their dad.</p><p>It was the first time Five ever felt humiliation, but it was still one of the happiest meals he ever had.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus and Five had always been a weird duo, seeing as they were both crazy in their own way. They were both maniacs.</p><p>It was hard enough to handle one of them, but together they were a shit show.</p><p>Five rarely participated in his sibling’s shenanigans, but somehow Klaus could convince him to join some of the biggest messes they’ve seen in their house.</p><p>This time, for example, they had the brilliant idea to build a rocket. They had worked on it for an entire weekend to put together a complex mechanism made with tubes, a compressor and a hand pump amongst other stuff. The problem? They were going to use it in Klaus’s bedroom because they have no backyard.</p><p>“Ladies and gentlemen, we present you” Klaus dramatically yelled in front of everyone, ignoring Luther’s glare “The glorious, unreplaceable, Imperial Rocket!”</p><p>His siblings all looked unimpressed “That’s a basic name”</p><p>Klaus gasped and crossed his arms in a theatrical way “Oh come on! I think it’s majestic! Give us more credit, we worked really hard on this!”</p><p>Five rolled his eyes “Well, you came up with the name and added some childish decorations while I built the entire-”</p><p>Klaus cut Five off, not wanting to lose the spotlight “Ok, who’s ready to see this beauty fly?”</p><p>“Ok, it’s a very simple system, first we have to-” Five’s eyes lighted up while he explained how the rocket worked, he hardly got a chance to talk about the things he was truly good at considering his siblings couldn’t care less about math, physics or technology.</p><p>The kids were busy pretending to be enticed by Five to notice Klaus in the background lightning the bottom of the rocket “This is taking too long, it’s showtime!”</p><p>By the time Five turned around to face him, it was too late “KLAUS NO! THAT’S NOT HOW THIS WORKS!” and before he could reach the toy had become a ball of fire.</p><p>The situation only got worse when Five tried to extinguish it and heard Ben scream “FIVE YOUR ARM IS ON FIRE!”</p><p>“OH MY GOD!” the fire was going up to his sleeve and slowly burning through the fabric of the uniform.</p><p>His siblings all precipitated to turn off the fire and take the blazer out of Five before he got hurt. Diego was the first to scream for help when they realized Five’s forearm was alarmingly red, it was disgustingly red “MOM! MOM!”</p><p>The rest of the day was pretty painful, Five never admitted it but it was hard to not cry while Grace took care of the second-degree burn. He ignored Klaus for over a week because he was too prideful to forgive him, but that was certainly not the end of their crazy shenanigans.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Ben and Five were the smartest of the Hargreeves children.</p><p>It was pretty stereotypical but they would both choose a book over a football anytime, they were passionate about learning new things and proving their brightness. They were always competing for the best grades in every class: but it never interfered with their relationship outside of the classroom.</p><p>Every few weeks, Five would space jump to their local library to borrow a backpack full of comic books (the one thing missing from their own home library). Afterward, Ben and he would spend all their free time reading them, talking about some weird geeky theories and secretly making fan art.</p><p>On top of it, whenever their dad was out of town and Pogo would let them go out in freedom, the two kids would run to the closest theatre and watch as many science-fiction or horror movies as they could.</p><p>Long story short, if they were in a real school, they would certainly get picked on.</p><p>“I’m glad I have you, Five” Ben whispered from his desk where he was reading peacefully</p><p>Five had that signature cocky smile on his face when he looked up “I’m glad I have you too, Ben.”</p><p>As the years passed, Five and Ben turned thirteen, and for some reason, Ben pulled away from Five and all the goofy nerdy stuff.</p><p>Ben slowly started acting like Five was a burden to him, he would turn him down to waste his time supervising Klaus or following Diego around.</p><p>“Hey Ben, do you want to hang out?”</p><p>“Not now, Five, I’m busy”</p><p>Same thing every time, until Five got enough.</p><p>It was a week before Halloween when Five knocked on Ben’s bedroom door “Hey, what do you want to be for Halloween?” this year was the third time that their father was letting them go trick or treating for thirty minutes “I was thinking we could match again, maybe this year we could be something scarier like-”</p><p>Ben cut him up drily “I’m not trick or treating this year, we’re going to a party.”</p><p>Five’s expression turned cold right away “What party? Who’s ‘we’?”</p><p>Ben wasn’t even looking at him in the eyes when he answered “Allison invited everyone. We’re too old for trick or treating Five.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah- you’re totally right.” Five was too embarrassed to keep talking, he wasn’t used to feeling like the childish one. “but nobody told Vanya and me about the party”</p><p>Ben looked down and nervously played with his fingers. Five had just enough social skills to understand it wasn’t a mistake: his siblings didn’t want them to come.</p><p>Five was on edge, he was used to being excluded by the others, but he never thought Ben would ever cut him off like that “What’s your problem, Ben? Why are you avoiding me?”</p><p>“Are you seriously asking me that!?” Ben’s eyes changed when his head snapped up, losing all innocence in his eyes and replacing it with anger “I’m done, Five. I’m done being your shadow; I’m done doing what you want and following you everywhere, I’m done. You’re better than me in everything and I don’t need you to keep throwing it in my face”</p><p>“What?” Five didn’t have anything else to say, he wasn’t expecting that.</p><p>Ben’s face turned red, and he poured his heart out “Your powers are amazing, you’re a natural genius, you’re confident and good looking, you’re one of dad’s favorites, and I could go on but I’m pretty sure you already know all this cause you’re egocentric and arrogant as shit! You have everything I want without even trying but you’re still always whining and making everything about you, and I’m done! You prefer Vanya over me anyway, so why do you care?” the kid didn’t even give Five the time to reply before he loudly shot the door in his face.</p><p>Five stood still, breathing heavily to resist the urge to knock again to talk to his brother. He felt guilty and he wanted to fix it, but he didn’t feel strong enough to face Ben, so he walked away.</p><p>It was a kind of pain he had never felt before, he couldn’t even put it in words.</p><p>That was the last conversation he ever had with Ben before he left the house.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Vanya had been Five’s closest friend since they were pretty young.</p><p> </p><p>That’s also the reason why Vanya was the only person who knew about Five’s time-traveling madness, but she wasn’t really happy about it.</p><p>“Five? Five!” It was around midnight, Vanya snuck out of her room and she was now standing beside Five’s bedroom door and knocking like crazy. She refused to open his door after the incident they had, a couple of weeks ago she walked in on Five- “Are you awake?”</p><p>Five opened the door with bags under his eyes, he was still wearing his uniform and his hair was a mess “Yes, Vanya?”</p><p>“Hey, I need to talk to you" She invited herself into the room but glared when she got a closer look at Five's pale tone, the bags under his red eyes and his clothes and hair all messed up. "You look horrible.”</p><p>Five didn't immediately react, showing how sluggish he was, instead he kept filling his large messy notebook with complicated equations "Gee thank you sister"</p><p>“Five, this is crazy, just go to sleep,” she said with a judgemental look watching him sip wat seemed like his sixth cup of coffee of the evening.</p><p>“In a moment” Five avoided saying ‘no’ to Vanya, he figured she got enough of that word already.</p><p>Vanya took a closer look at the notebooks and made a sight of disappointment, she didn't understand anything but she knew it was about time travel “Five, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think you should do this at all. You saw ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Terminator’, you know how badly this could end.”</p><p>“Those are just movies made by time-traveling amateurs, Vanya, this is real,” Five said simply after rolling his eyes.</p><p>Vanya wasn’t really trying to change his mind because she knew it would be pointless, she knew how stubborn and hardworking he was “What if something happens to you?”</p><p>“I’ll be perfectly fine, and I’ll be back before you know it, don’t worry” His voice sounded like a robot, he was sleep-deprived and way too tired to even stand straight </p><p>"Okay" she let it go, not because she was truly convinced but because she wasn’t going to keep a conversation up with what looked like a zombie. Instead she got to work and tried to put her brother to bed, starting by finding his pajama in his lowest drawer and arranged his pillows while he changed. She then forced him to lay down and tugged him in, it was all easier than expected since he was already more asleep than awake. </p><p>Five’s eyes were half-closed when he asked “Hey, what did you want to tell me anyway?”</p><p>Vanya shrugged “Well, I had a bad dream about you, so I was kind of worried” what she really wanted to say about her dream, is in it he disapparated forever. It was absolutely heartbreaking, which is why as soon as she woke up she ran upstairs to his bedroom. She could never get over losing her best friend, what would she do without him? </p><p>“It was just a dream, nothing's gonna happen to me, trust me Vanya” He took her hand and smiled “and if it all goes as planned; I could get us out of here.”</p><p>Vanya discretely hid her face for him to not see the tears in her eyes “You promise?”</p><p>“I promise,” He said firmly before watching her leave to go to bed.</p><p>The next day, Five got up from the eating table, confronted their father, and left.</p><p>He broke his promise, he broke Vanya, and it broke him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Five was now sitting on the breakfast table, surrendered by his siblings watching him cry with sentiment instead of fear for the first time in ages. Everything came back to him: his childhood, his family, his home, the day he idiotically escaped his house and immediately got kidnapped. He was overwhelmed, he felt foolish and he was completely speechless.</p><p>“I remember”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Which was your favorite?<br/>Halfway done whop whop!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Pretty Thing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pancakes, panic attacks, malls, and rape memory. </p><p>ATTENTION- GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF SEXUAL ABUSE</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was so damn hard to write, hope you like it. (sorry)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I remember” Five whispered again his movements were robotic and his eyes weren’t focusing on anything. It was almost like he wasn’t there; he was too occupied playing all the memories he dearly missed in his head.</p><p>“Alright,” His siblings were all staring down at him with their eyes wide open. “Are you okay?”</p><p>The only thing Five could feel was his own heartbeat, it was racing like it was going to pop out of his chest. He was plunged in a wave of anxiety and couldn’t process anything going on around him. The kid felt like he was suffocating, he felt like he was trapped in a small dark box… like a cell. He was panicking, looking around for an inexistent thread, and trying not to faint from how dizzy and nauseous he suddenly felt.</p><p>“Five?” Luther put his hands on the smaller one’s shoulder and slowly shook him, that just made it worst. Five jerked away from Luther and covered his ears. Luther was now even more worried “Five, what’s going on?”</p><p>Five started shaking violently and muttering gibberish, that was Klaus’ clue to back off from where he was sitting beside the kid who was now sobbing. In his usual bad timing, Klaus hummed “Allison broke him”</p><p>Allison glared at him but decided to let it go because she was too muddled by her little brother’s odd behavior. The voice in her head was telling her to wrap her arms around him, but she was afraid to make it all worst. This was a whole new level of weird “Five, are you okay?”</p><p>A few seconds passed and nobody moved, but when the thunderous sound of sob coming from their little brother’s throat. It was the loudest sound Five had made in the past two days, and it was terrifying, to say the least, because it sounded like he was in extreme agony, like he was dying.</p><p>“He’s having a panic attack or something, he’s going to be fine,” Diego said with confidence, keeping his calm better than the others, which is why he’s the only one who took the risk of approaching him. He kneeled in front of Five and protectively took his shoulders. He tried to make eye contact and talked in a low voice “Hey buddy, it’s me, Diego. You’re just having a panic attack; it’s going to be okay. You’re safe, Five, you’re home.”</p><p>Five didn’t seem to listen, his symptoms were only amplifying and his head was all over the place.</p><p>“Hey, look at me-” Diego held Five’s hands in his own “We’re going to take deep breaths, alright? Inhale, Exhale, Inhale, exhale…” he repeated about a dozen times and watched as Five followed his instruction with difficulty.</p><p>It was weird to hear Diego being so sweet but what came next was even more surprising. Diego slowly opened his arms and loosely hugged Five to hoping to make him feel safe but not suffocated. Diego whispered warmly “It’s okay buddy”</p><p>It took a full ten minutes for Five to stop weeping and shaking in Diego’s arms, during that time nobody else made a noise. At some point, Five simply buried his face in Diego’s shoulder and finally relaxed “Thank you”</p><p>“My pleasure” Diego was trying his best to not be awkward, and he was adorably failing.</p><p>Seeing the waters calm down, Klaus went back to sitting applesauce on the chair next to Five’s “Do you feel better shorty?”</p><p>Five looked up and smiled, a real smile. The first genuine smile they had seen from Five since the last time they ran away from their house to go eat donuts in the middle of the night. “I have my memories back.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Klaus ended up dragging his little brother and his sister shopping.</p><p>“Urban Planet, Levi’s, H&amp;M, Gap,” Klaus was having a blast trying to decide which place would have the best clothing for teenage boys. He had bought them to the biggest and most expensive mall downtown to take advantage of Allison’s credit card.</p><p>“Wow…” Five was speechless, he hadn’t been amongst these many people since he was thirteen, the last time he went out to a big event with Reginald and the Academy. Five was really trying to pay attention to everything Klaus was saying about clothing fabric, colors, and brands, but he easily got distracted by the irritating sounds around him. He nervously flinched at any big sound coming from the crowd, or even outside like the traffic, the construction.</p><p>“You’ll look like a model!” Klaus giggled. It was his idea to go shopping for Five after the overwhelming morning they had, and luckily Allison was free to supervise them all afternoon. Vanya and Diego had to work, and Luther refused to go, some reason he was kind of weirded out by the idea of going out to such a crowded place.</p><p>Klaus finally chose a store and dragged Five right in. “So what do you like? Any favorite colors or patterns? Do you want plain shirts or some of those t-shirts with messages- oh who am I kidding, those are hideous!” and he kept talking for the following hour.</p><p>Allison also picked up some clothes, something less extravagant but very elegant: fancy polo shirts, big brand shoes, accessories, and even cologne.</p><p>Klaus tried his best to make Five chose for himself “What about this? Or this? Or that? Or-” he pointed at different styles all over the two floors store but Five didn’t seem very interested.</p><p>“Anything is okay, I don’t mind” The kid repeated multiple times, shrugging and looking down at the muddy converse he had borrowed from Diego’s childhood closet. He seemed incapable of making his own decisions like he was afraid of making the ‘wrong one’. At some point, Klaus realized how grateful the kid would be with just a rag, and he was worried about how mentally unhealthy that was.</p><p>“Alright sweetie, then we should start trying some stuff, come here” They stood in line for a short while until they got a fitting room, the teenager went in and his siblings stood at the door with the pile of the clothes they had picked up for him.</p><p>“Ok Five, all you have to do is get in and undress. We’ll pass you some clothes and you’ll try them and tell us if you feel comfortable or not” Allison explained everything before letting Five inside the small room and close the door behind him “Feel free to pass any comments you wish”</p><p>Five did as he was told, he took off his shirt, and then his pants and right before he tried the first outfit on… he stopped in front of the mirror.</p><p>He stood still, only his eyes were moving, analyzing his almost naked body. He hadn’t look in a mirror since he was thirteen, so that’s what he looked like?</p><p>Maybe it was the view of his fresh bruises, or maybe it was the breeze giving him goosebumps, or maybe it was the small empty space he was locked in, but Five felt on the edge of another panic attack. He couldn’t move, he felt like time stopped, his thoughts were a tornado.</p><p>“Hey pretty thing, is everything okay in here?” Klaus made him jump when he popped his head through the door.</p><p>Tears ran down his eyes while Five replayed the memory he loathed so much “Don’t call me that”</p><p>“Oh, alright, why?” Klaus approached him slowly and tried to put his hands on the kid’s shoulders, copying Diego’s trick from earlier, but Five slapped his hand away and turned red “Five, what’s wrong?”</p><p>“That’s how he used to call me.” Five’s eyes were full of tears, he wasn’t actually looking at Klaus, he was only focusing on his hyperventilation. “Stay away, please.”</p><p> </p><p>Something broke inside of Klaus's heart when he imagined what Five was talking about, “Honey, are you okay”</p><p>“No…” <em>Of course, the fuck no</em>.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Normally Five had eight hours to be by himself in his cell, he would use them to sleep or cry but there wasn’t much else to do.</p><p>Although, after some months, The Commander started disturbing his ‘free time’.<br/>
It was a windy night so Five could hear the big raindrops outside while he laid on the cold floor. He looked up when the door of his cell quietly opened to reveal the Commander staring at him with his creepy look. Five didn’t make a sound while the man unchained him and led him out of the cell, he wasn’t in the mood to get punished.</p><p>“Number Five, come with me” The older man ordered before blindfolding him and grabbing his skinny arm, the man lead him to god knows where while whispering “I need you to stay quiet, if you make a sound you’ll wish you were dead”</p><p>The two walked for ten minutes and took some elevators while Five tried his best to not cough or wheeze, he had a cold and his head was killing him. They entered a bright room and the man took off his blindfold “Welcome to my apartment, Number Five”</p><p>The thirteen years old boy looked around with his mouth open in surprise, even for someone whose father was a billionaire this room was still the fanciest thing he had ever seen. It was full of glass artifacts, extravagant clothes, enormous chandeliers, and expensive paintings. “Do you like it?”</p><p>Five nodded out of respect, the child was now standing over the wide window realizing he was on the top floor of the building, he hadn’t seen the outside world in… well, he couldn’t remember the last time he went out… so, since ever?</p><p>“Good, because you’re spending the night here. With me” the man got closer to Five, he put his hand on the kid’s thin waist and used the other to brush his face. The commander had that creepy smile again, the one that gave Five goosebumps anytime the man stared at him. “We’re going to have so much fun, pretty thing”</p><p>The daily anesthesia and the drugs had made him so dull that he didn’t understand what was going to happen after he heard the older man’s belt fall on the floor. He didn’t even have enough energy to properly react when the Commander pressed the kid against himself and kissed him violently, he just stood still and watched how his pants were roughly pulled down his knees. “I’ve been dreaming of this”</p><p>Five finally pulled away when the man tried to kiss him again, shortly after a hand strongly flew across his face making him cry loudly. He started shaking when the commander’s hands found their way back to his waist “You know the rules pretty thing: I don’t want to hear a sound from you, if you try to pull away from me again you’ll regret it, and don’t you dare look up at me, keep your head down as we thought you”</p><p>In some aggressive movement, the Commander turned Five round and the kid’s mind went black. Everything became fuzzy, and his heart was beating too fast for his little body, he felt like time was going slower. The man kissed his neck over and over again with alcohol breath, treating like an unanimated object, like his damn property.</p><p>Five didn’t oppose when the man pinned him down over his desk and strongly pushed face against the table, hurting him and making the child cry quietly. The man was suffocating the small boy with his weight, holding him still and leaving marks with his nails while he took off his shirt.</p><p>The time finally stopped when he felt a pain he had never felt before. Something was inside of him. The overwhelming affliction was enough to completely shut him off as he gasped for air. <em><strong>It hurts. Please stop.</strong></em></p><p>“Shut up pretty face, take it like a good boy” Did he say that out loud? It didn’t matter, he had no say in anything. He closed his eyes and focused on the throbbing making his entire body scream with pain. It only got worse, it started going in and out. In and out. In and out. Over and over again.</p><p>The Commander started going faster, enjoying every second of it. Five, on the other hand, could feel the little bit of dignity he had left disappearing with every thrust. He was getting destroyed from the inside out.</p><p>The man planted his nails on the boy’s shoulders to rock himself harder, more brutally. Even the man’s moaning and panting were ferocious as he pulled the little kid’s hair, slamming his head against the desk every time he went deeper inside of him. The entire scene was barbaric.</p><p>“<em>Common you slu</em>t”<br/>
“<em>Atta ‘boy, Atta ‘boy</em>”<br/>
“<em>such a little bitch</em>”</p><p>And Five felt pathetic. He felt weak. Miserable. Woeful. Helpless.</p><p>Alone.</p><p>He felt alone.</p><p>Five had never felt so powerless, and that is coming from a boy who spends his days looked up, chained, and getting kicked around by adults in the building. His heart hurt so much that he didn’t notice when the pain stopped.</p><p>“You were such a good boy” the commander didn’t lose time to put his clothes back on and kept on going with his night as nothing happened.</p><p>Five however was taking all his time to process the situation, his mind was replaying the lamentable scene over and over again. He was on the floor with his head between his knees, trying to contain his sobs.</p><p>“Don’t cry babe” The commander kneeled in front of him, cleaned his tears from his face, and whispered in his ears “Because you were such a big help, you’re free to take a hot bath and maybe you can sleep here in my comfy bed. What do you say?”</p><p>Five’s eyes were empty, he felt used, he was mourning the dying remains of his mental stability. His vision was blurry because his eyes were full of tears, his shaking body was covered in chills, somehow he could still feel the sadist’s hands on him.</p><p>The picture of him helplessly crying on the floor made the man smile wider “We’re gonna have so much fun together…”</p><p>As you can guess, this wasn’t the last time. Five ended up spending his nights there at least once per week. The Commander would use him to release his anger and misery, it somehow made him feel better to make the kid cry and suffer. He also looked for Five on his bests day to ‘celebrate’, and when he was bored, and when he was sad… so really, whenever he felt like it.</p><p>And Five took it like a good boy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This was so damn hard to write, hope you liked it. (sorry)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luther tucks Five in bed, but the kid has a nightmare. Thankfully Allison is there for him when he wakes up in tears.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the first time in over four years, Five finally felt at home.</p><p>After his breakdown at the mall caused by one of his many horrifying memories, Klaus and Allison brought him home safely, made him a cup of tea, and sat with him in the living room to calm him down. For two hours, he sat in the comfort of his seat and let his siblings watch over him like a baby. Five felt at home.</p><p>After sundown, he took a warm long bath, and for the first time in years, he actually felt relaxed. When he got out, he avoided looking at his bony self in the mirror as he got dressed before running to his room, where Luther was sitting on his bed waiting for him.</p><p>“Hey Luther” The kid saluted breezily and the big guy jumped from his seat making Five weekly chuckled.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, how he missed that devilish smile. A least he's slowly going back to being himself.</em>
</p><p>Five dried his hair with his towel as he mocked “Wow, I didn’t even have to jump to scare you”</p><p>Luther gave him a quick glare “Yeah well, about that, why aren’t you using your power?”</p><p>“Well, um, I-, euh…” Five’s cheeks turned red, he seemed embarrassed when h looked down “I don’t exactly remember how.”</p><p>“You forgot how to use your powers?!” Luther’s voice raised with confusion but his expression remained calm.</p><p>“I mean, not exactly, I remember the basics, but I really don’t feel like using them.” Five’ smile went away, he slowly approached Luther while explaining himself “Technically, I do remember but… The last time I used my powers was to run away from here, four years ago, and it cost me my whole life. I don’t want to try again, not even space jumps, at least not right away.”</p><p>Luther nodded, pretending to understand his brother’s logic. Until his eyes widen again and he reflexed on what the kid just said: “Wait, wait- four years?”</p><p>Five looked up and shrugged “Approximately. I never had access to a calendar or a newspaper. Heck, I hadn’t even seen a clock in months!”</p><p>“Five, there’s a huge difference between four years and seventeen years.” Luther and Five sat side by side on his little twin bed “So this is why you look like a teenager? You were only gone four years…How is that possible? Where were you?”</p><p>If their other siblings would have been in the room with them, they would have told Luther to shut up and leave the child to breathe, but Five understood why Luther was so preoccupied. After all, you don’t hear stories like this every day.</p><p>“I don’t know, Luther" It's all Five said before looking down again in shame and regret. ven with his memories back and his family helping him to get back to normal, Five still felt so weird whenever he got treated like a real person and not an animal in captivity.</p><p>Luther waited a few seconds before quietly asking "Five, what exactly happened after you left?"</p><p>Five stared at the burns on his arm and thought about a way to answer without breaking down in tears "When I ran away from here, I didn’t get very far. Seconds after I walked out of that door, someone knocked me out and I woke up in a dark cell, in a sort of moldy basement. After that it’s all very unclear, all I remember was the punishment and the tests, every single day. As I said, they used to drug me, they kept me unconscious and often locked up or tied up. I never quite knew where I was or what they wanted from me... why they did that to me”</p><p>This time, Luther did take the time to reflect in silence. He frowned hard, trying hard to put the pieces together “And how did you get out of there?”</p><p>Five swallowed nervously “...I don’t know..."</p><p>"What?" Luther raised his voice and asked brusquely, Five flinched harshly and pushed himself back. The kid looked agitated and frankly a little scared, he looked down in the same way he did on his first day back, his body was shaking and his face was turning red, he felt like he was back in the interrogation room and about to get yelled at and tortured again. Luther realized what he had done and timidly tried to fix it "I'm sorry, Five, I didn't mean to scare you."</p><p>"I know" Five softly whimpered at the apology but nodded respectfully still looking down.</p><p>Luther looked around thinking of how deeply he had fucked up, he had no words for how sorry he was, he hated seeing his strongest brother like this.</p><p>With all his strength and a very shaky voice, Five continued "They were trying a new experiment; they put a sort of helmet on my head, it freaking hurt. I think it was an important day cause the room was fuller than usual, and after they pushed some buttons everything turned blue and blurry. Next thing I knew, I felt out of the sky and into your backyard. For the entirety of the day, I really thought I was in a sort of simulation”</p><p>Luther struggled to find the right thing to say, he decided it was best to just stay silent and raise an arm to part Five’s shoulder. That did not end well.</p><p>The teenager rapidly backed away and stared at the hand with wide eyes full of concern. His two hands came up to his face as a shield, waiting for the hit. “I’m sorry!”</p><p>Luther watched the scene with horror, he had clearly not thought this through. He acted upon it and tried his best to fix his mistake "Five... you know I would never hurt you, right? I would never lay a hand on you, none of us would. We love you, we just want the best for you"</p><p>Five’s watery eyes blinked a couple of times before his shoulders tended down and he could look up at Luther again. "I know, I'm sorry."</p><p>His big brother just sat there thinking: Whatever Five went through seemed to have changed him forever. "and I'm sorry for scaring you, buddy" </p><p>Five hesitantly whispered looking down at his feet "and I love you guys too" </p><p>Luther smiled down at his brother and tried to sound sweet as he spoke “you should go to sleep, you’ve had a rough time”</p><p>Five yawned as an answer, proving Luther right, and rubbed his eyes like a small child as he nodded</p><p>Luther got up from his seat on the bed and started walking towards the door to leave Five alone to sleep. Right before he stepped out of the bedroom, he slowly looked back and hesitantly asked “Hey...um, do you want me to tuck you in?”</p><p>As soon as the words left Luther’s mouth, the man regretted them, he still expected to see Five go back to his old arrogant, egocentric, and rude past self who would have definitely laughed at his last question. Instead, the sweetest smile appeared on his face when he nodded “Okay”</p><p>Luther walked back to the bed, waited for the kid to make himself cozy before helping him arrange the pillows and covering him with three piles of covers to make sure he’s warm all night. He even tried to make some small talk to make it less awkward “You know, I never understood why your room was here while we were all in the main hall”</p><p>“Me neither, but that’s ok, I like this room.” Five answered with his eyes already half-closed “It’s exactly how I left it... it feels like home.”</p><p>“We made sure it stayed intact, nobody ever touched anything because we always hoped you would come back” It was the last thing Five heard before he closed his eyes and let his head fall back. Luther smiles and whispered “and you did...”</p><p>“Good night, Luther” he mumbled, basically sleep talking at that point.&lt; /p&gt;</p><p>“Good night Five” The large man answered and stay seated. He only got up ten minutes later when he heard Five’s adorable snort, he passed his hand through his dark hair, closed the lamp, and shot him one last look before slowly closing the door.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Five knew he was dreaming, yet it didn't make the memory any less painfully.</p><p> "PLEASE! PLEASE LET ME GO! I'M SORRY!" Young thirteen years old Five was hanging from the ceiling with a big rope tied to his bare feet. He tried to be strong for a while but after half an hour, hi face was completely red, veins were popping out of his body, and he couldn't stop crying while thinking about his dreadful headache.</p><p>After an hour passed, he was almost sure they were going to leave him overnight and he was going to die. He cried and cried while the Handler looked with a smile "Number Five, calm down my boy. You're way too precious for us to let you die"</p><p>"P-please!" Five tried to follow his sobs but it was hard when you felt like throwing up and passing out. Truth was, Five hated the feeling of being week, which is why he never once cried in front of his family and instead spaced jump to his bedroom and locked the door to cry until he had no shame left in his little body. Now, however, he felt like he had no dignity left anyway, so bawling his eyes out while getting tortured didn't seem as dramatic. "Please ma'am, I'm sorry!"</p><p> The woman just snickered and shook her head "That won't cut it, kid, what you did deserves an even worst punishment. I thought we made it clear that we ould not accept any disrespect."</p><p> "I won't do it ever again, I promise!" Five whined, regretting the incident from that evening. During his lastest test that morning, he couldn't hold it back anymore and he ended up pissing himself in the lab. Some adults eyed him, others mocked him, and of course, the Handler and the Commander were mad at him.</p><p> "Alright, I will let you down but only because you're asking so nicely." She approached him and flatted his head like a kicked puppy."Although I have to say, you look so cute when you're praying for mercy"</p><p> Five didn't react, he just tried to stay immobile, avoided her piercing eyes, and bit his lips to avoid getting in more trouble. He knew the rules: he’s not allowed to look into people’s eyes, or to talk without permission, or move without permission, or refuse any order, or ask for privileges, or do anything that would disrespect anyone in the lab.</p><p>The handler untied him with anything but delicatessen, he fell flat on his back and his head made a loud sang when it clapped against the floor and made him yelped. She laughed efficaciously and made him feel even more embarrassed "You're so adorable"  </p><p>Five was almost unconscious and couldn't even try to get up. He didn't think before he opened his mouth and mumbled sadly "Why do you do this to me?"</p><p>The Handler just previously bit her lips and slowly approached him on the floor, she pressed her heels against his cheeks hurtfully and made him cry loudly "This is not a hotel dear, you're not here to sleep, eta and have fun. This is a lab and you're here to help us get what we need. I thought you would know that after a year."</p><p>It's been a year? Where was he a year ago? Why doesn't he remember where he was a year ago? "but why are you so mean to me?" </p><p> The Handler's smile whipped away as she got up again and kicked him hard directly in is lower stomach making him groan as loudly as he could, trying hard to not scream form the tok=p of his lungs. With confidence and a calm voice, the Handler continued "I dare you to say another word."  </p><p> Five hesitated, with his hands wrapped around himself thinking about his pain, his misery, and the hell he was worthlessly going through. Still, little Five spitted out " You're a fucking sadist."</p><p>The Handler took a deep breath and looked around the room gracefully. She disappeared from Five's blurred view from a couple of seconds before repairing with what seemed like a... a bat? Then, Five felt it. Five felt a kind of pain that no fourteen years old innocent child should ever feel, he felt like a truck ran over him, he felt like his body was on fire, he felt like the world hated him. He felt the Handler hit him with the bat as hard as she could, every hit made him jump and weep, he knew it would leave purple marks all over his malnourished body, and for some reason he deserved it.</p><p>Once she was done taking her rage out on the poor kid, making him bleed and probably breaking some bones, she put the bat down and smiled down at him "Am I enough of a sadist for you now?"</p><p>Five just rolled around on the floor, keeping his fees closen and trying to keep his cries down, he couldn't take another beating today after this one. <em>Whatever I did to deserve this, I'm sorry.</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Allison's plan was simply to enter her little brother's room, and checking up on him before going to bed right now. The mama bear in her couldn't let her sleep without doing that first, and the fact that she hadn't seen her daughter in weeks only made it harder for her to not run to Five's room and wrap him up like a newborn baby.</p><p>She got to the green painted bedroom and peeked at the half-open door and immediately heard what sounded like silent howling. She got a little closer to look at her baby brother shaking and desperately rolling around the bed in his sleep, obviously having a very bad dream. "Five? Honey, wake up"</p><p>Two hands shook his shoulders carefully until he finally opened his eyes and jumped awake, sitting up to gap for air and let the tears run down his rosy cheeks "Allison?"</p><p>"Hi buddy" She smiled and tree her best to comfort him, keeping her warm hands on his arm s to warm him up a little and stop him from shaking like a leaf. "Were you having a nightmare?"</p><p>No words were needed to answer her question because the teenager made a painful sound fro the back of his throat and let all his sorrow out. He cried as he had never cried before and hidden his face in between his knees to quietly repeat "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry"</p><p>"Oh honey..." was the last thing his big sister said before pulling him to her for the tightest hug she had ever given. A hug full of empathy and love, the hug he wished he had four years ag. All she wished for at that moment, was for that hug to take all her little brother's pain away.</p><p>“I can’t- Allison, I can’t” He rambled non-sense while hugging her back strongly as if he was scared that she would blink away at any moment.</p><p>Allison let him talk and mumble a little more before she started caressing hr bag and shushing to calm him down. She whispered caringly “Sweetie, it’s all going to be okay. I promise”</p><p>The child nodded and gave her his full trust, not even really aware of his surroundings anymore. He was resting his forehead on her shoulder and fighting to keep his eyes open for any longer.</p><p>After ten full minutes, Allison slowly put him down on his back again, making sure he was comfortable. She stayed there holding his hand and smiling down at the quiet snorts her brother was making.</p><p>When she tried to get up, the hand she was holding got tighter and Five’s eyes shot open again. He shook his head and his eyes filled with tars again “Please don’ leave me. Please Ali”</p><p>At his broken voice, Allison felt her heart drop and sitting back down right away “Of course honey, I’ll stay with you.”</p><p>With a sympathetic smile, she laid down and tried her best to not make him feel uncomfortable. Five felt asleep right away and unconsciously wrapped himself to his sister.</p><p>Allison just smiled, kissed his head, and whispered “You’re going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. World's Worst Dad</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lovely family breakfast, a very bad flashback of Reginald and Five makes a friend.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Five woke up pretty late in the morning with his face covered in drool and feeling very warm under all the covers. He was disoriented for some seconds, still feeling like a stranger in his own house, but after a short time he was awake enough to get to the kitchen where all his siblings were waiting.</p><p>“Hi” he greeted in a voice way too quiet to get the room's attention.</p><p>“Five! Hey!” Allison was the first to notice him standing under the doorframe, she approached him slowly and wrapped her arm around him “How did you sleep?”</p><p>“Good” he smiled up at him and whispered “Thank you”</p><p>She smiled back and lead him to his place at the breakfast table, it was still weird for them to sit together after so long, but little Five felt like a king, he was happy to be there, he felt like he finally belonged somewhere.</p><p>“You want some breakfast? Allison got up early and bought us all bagels and muffins” Vanya said and passed him an empty plate for him to serve himself, she smiled and sat beside him with her full plate.</p><p>“Our sweet sister! How generous” Klaus was sitting right across him, filling his mouth with his third muffin.</p><p>“Mom also made some fruit salad” Diego served himself a bowl and then served a second one for his little brother “healthy choices, baby”</p><p>“Speaking of healthy choices” Luther passed him a glass of warm milk with a big smile on his face “Milk gives you extra protein and calcium”</p><p>To top it all off, Grace surprised him with a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him "Bon appetit sweetie"</p><p>Five was staring down at all the food in front of him and chuckled “I don’t think I can eat all this.”</p><p>The other people around the table chuckled back and kept eating their breakfast, Diego pointed at him with his spoon and replied “Well that’s how much a growing young man should eat.”</p><p>“If my memory doesn’t fail me, Luther once ate everything in the fridge when we were fifteen.” Klaus pointed out with a smirk and got them all to laugh. “After that, I started watching my back more, I was scared he would eat me next.”</p><p>Luther wasn’t pleased with the comment, he was thankful for Five changing the subject after getting halfway to his blueberry muffin. “It looks like you guys are greasing me up. Like the old lady from ‘Hansel &amp; Gretel’!”</p><p>The room went quiet for a couple of seconds because truth was that the kid was right. His older siblings were spooked by how thin, pale, and weak he looked, they were hoping to help him get better. Vanya had the reflex to keep talking with a little smile to avoid awkwardness “Pogo used to read us that story all the time when we were little, I loved it"</p><p>“I preferred the three little pigs,” Klaus said looking at his nails “It was less macabre”</p><p>“You think burning a living wolf in boiling water is less macabre?” Diego argued, way too agitated for nine am in the morning.</p><p>“He destroyed the little pig's houses! HE WAS MEAN!” Klaus defended angrily.</p><p>The table broke into an argument about what iconic children's story was better. Five kept out and just ate looked in tranquility, analyzing his family and thinking about how great they could have been if they weren’t adopted by an asshole. Thanks to him, peaceful and fun meals like this were truly rare in their household.</p><p>That godawful, mean, arrogant man should be rotting side by side with Satan right now. None of them particularly loved him, but Five could live with them, until November 1996.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>November 11st 1996</strong>
</p><p>Five was newly seven years old and already showing signs of his true self; pretentious, bossy and show off. He was being especially bratty today after Reginald gave them an extra hour of training, he was pissed off “I’m tired”</p><p>“I don’t care,” Reginald said while taking notes, completely ignoring how tired his children were after a full day of intense studying and four hours of training.</p><p>“Why are we even doing this?”</p><p>Reginald ignored him and that just made him more consistent, Five hated the feeling of not being heard.</p><p>“This is useless” Five continued, louder and snippier “We’re not learning anything”</p><p>“Number Five, you make another pointless critique and you will suffer the consequences” Reginald simply said with no expression. He signaled Vanya and she blew her little whistle, meaning it was time for them to start doing burpees and squats again.</p><p>However, Five decided to test his father’s limits and he just stayed put, not moving, not obeying.</p><p>“Number Five, get on task, now.” His father’s voice was getting even scarier now as if that was even possible.</p><p>Five just crossed his arms and raised his chin to challenge his father. That was such a bad move.</p><p>“Number Five, I won’t tell you another time boy” Reginald glared down at the skinny brown-haired boy, hoping for the kid to step down once and for all.</p><p>Five put his foot down and slowly shook his little head, his siblings weren’t very proud of him. They all frowned and shook their heads, they definitely did not have his back.</p><p>“Alright then” Reginald closed his notebook, put his pencil in his pocket, and cleared his throat “Everyone get out, go to your bedrooms. Number Five, you stay put.”</p><p>Five was stressing out, but he wouldn’t let his father find out. He didn’t know where he was going with this, all he knew was that he was feeling impotent and for once, powerful.</p><p>“Follow me,” he said without even looking at the kid, and he leads them to the rooftop of the academy “Hurry up”</p><p>Once there, Reginald stood right in front of the edge and looked over at Five right behind him “Number Five, I’ve had more than enough of your childish attitude. Your disgusting need to contradict has to come to an end. It is a waste of my time and I am nothing but disappointed your arrogant, and messy self.”</p><p>Five stood with his mouth slightly opened, wanting to answer and yet having nothing to word out loud. His heart was racing and he could already feel the rage burn in him. This was going to end badly.</p><p>Reginald looked at his watched and frowned “Since you seem to know better than me, and you act better than your siblings, you will not get to rest tonight. Instead, we’re trying a new approach to our personal practice.”</p><p>Five’s light green eyes opened widely and all he could think about is how much he wanted to be in his bed. He wanted to space jump to the bathroom and get a hot shower, but it was nothing like him to run away from problems, Five was known to take the bull from both it’s horns. So he stayed and silently waited with fear.</p><p>“Jump,” Reginald commanded while looking at the skyline of their city.</p><p>“To where?” Five asked earning a look from his dad that made him feel stupid.</p><p>“Jump off the building, now.” Reginald’s voice was full of venom, rigid and strong.</p><p>“What?” Five asked with shaking legs and a worried expression “You want me to die?”</p><p>“No, I don’t want that blood in my hands.” He was looking down now, mentally measuring the high between their feet and the floor “I want you to jump off the edge, and space jump back up before hitting the ground.”</p><p>Five’s eyes were watering and his knees were shaking “W-Why?”</p><p>“You’re entitled, egocentric, and simply insufferable. You think too highly of yourself, so if you want to keep this pride of yours you will have to own up to your behavior” Reginald finished without caring at all about his hurt, scared eight years old son.</p><p>Five swallowed hard and approached the edge to mentally prepare himself. He whimpered loudly, making his father think even less of him. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Sorry doesn’t cut it, boy"</p><p>“Please don’t make me do this” Five was shaking his head over and over again, with big tears falling from his eyes.</p><p>“Number five, stop making me lose my time,” Reginald said before grabbing the kid’s collar and forcing him to stay halfway over the edge.</p><p>Five screamed by now, panicking and full-on sobbing. He was trying to grab his dad, trying to hold on to anything far enough from the void. “DAD! DAD PLEASE NO! I’M SORRY! I’M SCRED!”</p><p>Reginald’s look was full of disgust and hate, he had no regret or mercy for his young crying child. “Or else you will spend the entire night tied up in the backyard like a dirty, savage animal!”</p><p>Five counted in his head, trying to calm down and embracing himself for the worst.</p><p>1…. 2…3…. “I can’t.”</p><p>5… 6… 7… “I don’t want to die”</p><p>8… 9… 10. Five jumped.</p><p>He fell for about ten feet before his reflexes took charge of the situation and popped him right back up on his feet. He was shaking like crazy, he felt to his knees beside his father and cried loudly for the first time in years, vulnerable and traumatised.</p><p>Reginald just eyed him with pride and grinned “Do it again”</p><p>Five cleaned his tears and clumsily got on his feet ready to jump. He obeyed without saying much, he knew he wouldn’t make it to the end of a sentence without breaking in uncontrollable tears. Five jump a second time.</p><p>And then a third time.</p><p>And then a fourth time.</p><p>And then a fifth time.</p><p>And he continued for a full thirty minutes, until he physically couldn’t move. By his seventeenth jump, Five had gotten good at jumping into voids and avoiding death at the last minute, but he was running out fuel and getting extremely dizzy. He laid on the floor and tried to hide his hot tears, and holding back his urges to puke. All he could think about was how much of a complete idiot he felt like for bringing this on himself.</p><p>Reginald looked at his watch and then eyed his miserable son on the floor “Get up and continue Number Five. Prove that you can accomplished something interesting.”</p><p>“No!” Five groaned and got up coughing and bleeding from his nose “I can’t anymore. I already pushed all my limits, if I jump again I’ll kill myself.”</p><p>Reginald looked at him and took deep breaths. Five didn’t even have time to react, he didn’t see it coming when his dad took his “clearly don’t reach the level you proclaim. You’ve wasted my time with your cowardly attitude and your overall uselessness, you’re a disgrace”</p><p>Reginald left and Five was left alone in the cold, shivering and sobbing. He had a horrible headache, a full body ache and he felt awful about himself. He felt pointless and lost, all he wanted to do was cry in his bed. So, he gathered all his strength to teleport inside and he ended up in the middle of the main hall where his siblings’ bedroom where.</p><p>They were supposed to be asleep, yet most of their doors were open signaling that they were in fact awake. He made it to Luther’s room, where he meant to ask for help since he could barely walk on his own “Hey, Luther-”</p><p>Luther was sitting on the ground with Allison, both giggling discreetly and trying to hide in the shadow. Luther ignored him completely, and when Five didn’t immediately move Allison got up and approached him rapidity, glaring down at him with pure annoyance, and hissed “Go bother someone else. And close the door when you leave.”</p><p>Five then hardly made it to Diego’s room and soundlessly opened the door to peek his head and whisper “Diego, are you awake?”</p><p>“No” was all his brother said before turning the light up and throwing a metal spoon at him. Making Five yelp and step back out of the bedroom.</p><p>With enormous pains down his stomach, Five made it to Klaus’ room where Ben was hanging out too. They were clearly awake and not busy at all, so Five went straight in and asked quietly “Guys, I need your help” </p><p>Neither of them moved, or even looked up at Five’s teary eyes, instead they simply said harmonically “We’re busy”</p><p>Five didn’t see the point in pushing, if not even his siblings cared about him what was the point of his stupid life? He’s worthless, careless and a complete asshole, which is why they all hate him.</p><p>When he was about to give up a drop to the floor to cry right there, he heard a quiet little voice call him “Five, are you ok?”</p><p>Five turned around and looked at sleepy little Vanya standing under a door frame “Hey”</p><p>“Why are you still awake? and still in your uniform?” She approached her brother with a sympathetic look.</p><p>Five didn’t answer her questions, instead he just shamefully looked down and whispered “Could you help me get to my bedroom?”</p><p>When the boy got dizzy and tripped over himself, Vanya hurried to help him up. He wrapped his arm around the smaller kid, and she used all her strength to side-carry him up the stairs. “Gosh, Five, what happened to you?</p><p>Five stayed quiet and whimpered at every step but still got to his room where he crashed in his bed with difficulty. “Thank you Vanya”</p><p>Vanya just made a pity look and helped him get his shoes out “Was it dad?”</p><p>Five shook his head “No, I deserved it”</p><p>At the feeling of his sister’s embrace, Five finally let out his final tears of the day “Of course not, you don’t deserve any of this Five”</p><p>And he did not deserve what was to come either.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Five? Fiiiiveeeee” Klaus tried to get his attention, he had completely spaced out for ten minutes straight.</p><p>“Yes?” Five me back to his sentences and looked around, noticing that both his sisters had left and he was now entourned by his three brothers.</p><p>Diego looked at him with a sort of excited expression “I was asking if you what you wanted to do today? I don’t have to work til nightfall, so I’m down for whatever”</p><p>“Me too” Klaus raised his hand, clearly not having anything better to do with his life.<br/>
Luther looked crushed when he had to admit that he had no life and he was completely free. “Me too”</p><p>Five nodded and smiled, liking the feeling being wanted. “Euh, I really don’t know”</p><p>“Common chap, we’ll do whatever you want champ.” Klaus ruffled his hair and all three of them stared at their little brother.</p><p>Five looked shy all he sudden, he had an idea but he was scared of sating it, he bit his lips nervously before pitching his suggestion “Can we just go for a walk outside? Like downtown? I miss being around real people, and I don’t remember the city.”</p><p>The three older men looked at each other and shrugged, Luther was the first to talk “Yeah, that sounds ok”</p><p>After sipping loudly into his glass of milk, Klaus added “I would like that, who doesn’t enjoy some fresh air right?”</p><p>“Downtown smells like shit” Diego said kind of aggressively, making Five’s shoulder go down with disappointment. At the sight of his baby brother k=looking sad, Diego took it back with an unusual sweet voice “B-But that’s ok, I like the city. Come on, get dressed and meat us in the car”</p><p>Five’s smile slowly reappeared and ran upstairs to his bedroom to get dressed with the clothes Allison bought him.</p><p>Once in the car, Luther and Diego sat in the front where they glared at eah other. Luther hissed meanly “Keep it down, he’s fragile Diego.”</p><p>Diego frowned “I know dumbass, he’s my brother too. Don’t call him ‘fragile’, he’s a strong young man.”</p><p>Luther shook his head and rolled his eyes “Yeah but he’s been throught a lot, just wath your mouth.”</p><p>Before Diego could reply with an angrier voice, Five got in car “Hi”</p><p>Happy to see the fight cut out, Klaus greeted his brother with a big smile “Hey shorty, you ready for an venture”</p><p>They parked the car in front of park and started walking together. The first ten minutes of silence were dead silence and it was actually pretty relaxing and comfortable.</p><p>Until Klaus broke the silence with little questions “Five, now that you’re a kid, wouldn’t you like to go back to school?”</p><p>Five looke a little nervous when he answered “I think I woud like that, but I’m wa too behind. I’m missing like three school years and I forgot uch of what we did.”</p><p>As always, Luther spoke without thinking once “That's a shame, you’re the ‘smart’ one of the group”</p><p>Diego elbowed him and glared at his biggest brothter before joining the conversation “Five, if you really want to graduate and get a higher education, we an totally find someone to teach you. You deserve it, and we would be happy to help”</p><p>Five smiled and looked up with hope “I would love to go to high school. I miss learning and socializing. I would have such good grades”</p><p>“There he is” mumbled Klaus with his usual contagious laugh.</p><p>The Hargreeves brothers kept walking together until they heard what sounded like a whimper. Diego was the one to stop and mentioned it “Can you hear that?”</p><p>“Yeah, sounds like it’s coming from there” Luther pointed out the obvious by signaling the long, dark, dirty alley they were passing by.</p><p>“Can we just keep walking?” Klaus had a feeling this was going to take some time, so he smoothly reached into his pocket and took out a cigarette to light it up without his brothers noticing “I’m pretty sure I already slept in this shitty alley before. By the way, there’s a rat there by the way”</p><p>At the mention of a rat, Five stepped back and got closer to Five. Five used to be the fearless one when they were children, but after his horrible experiences with insects, rats, and spiders in his cell, Five was done with any little creature. “What is it?”</p><p>Diego and Luther laboriously inspected the boxes in the alley until Diego yelled “AHHH!”</p><p>“What?” the other three siblings yelled back.</p><p>“That box just fucking moved!” Diego backed off looking ridiculously fearful.</p><p>Luther, being over six feet tall and enormous, acted like the courageous one and went straight to where Diego was pointing to see what hid inside the box. “Oh my god?”</p><p>Five was on his tiptoes, with his mouth opened and looking excited “What is it?”</p><p>Luther smiled and picked up the soggy, wet box to bring it to Five’s feet “Look at this little buddy!”</p><p>Five and Klaus both gasped similarly with huge smiles on their faces. Five looked like a kid on Christmas opening a Christmas gift “It’s a puppy!”</p><p>Klaus hurried to pick it up but the dog started barking and tried to bite his finger off “Oh you beast! It’s a monster!”</p><p>“He’s just scared,” Luther explained</p><p>Diego brought his sass “Or maybe he just hates you cause you stink”</p><p>Klaus stick his tongue out and kept smoking his cigarette while Five stared at the puppy with googly eyes. The kid kneeled in front of the box and flatted the dog’s hair “Hi buddy, are you okay?”</p><p>The dog sniffed him a couple of times before he started licking his hand and happily moving his tail. Five giggled and kept talking to the dog “You’re so cute! Why would anyone leave you here?”</p><p>Five’s tendency to talk to animals and unanimated things had always been present, as kids they thought it was hilarious and stupid, but right now it looked preciously adorable.</p><p>The three older brothers looked at each other with big eyes full of sentiment. With only looks and hand gestures, they made a decision “Five”</p><p>Five looked up at Diego “Yes?”</p><p>“You can keep the dog” Diego smiled cockily and wicked, making his two other siblings physically cringe</p><p>“Really?” The smile on the teenager’s face was breathtaking, almost magical. It made him look like a real, innocent, joyful child full of life. “This is amazing! You’re staying with me, buddy!”</p><p>Looking at Five pick up the hug to hug him, and seeing the dug rub himself against the kid, it was really the most delightful picture ever. Luther was the one to break the moment “He kinda needs a bath”</p><p>“He’s also hungry, can we stop in a pet store to buy him food and toys?” It was the first time since his arrival that Five actually asked for something, which is why they all nodded and answer positively.</p><p>“What are you going to name him buddy?” Diego ruffled his hair and asked.</p><p>“How are you so sure that it’s a boy?” Klaus asked as he threw away the last of his cigarette at a three.</p><p>“It is definitely a boy” Five affirmed after looking under the puppy “And, for the name, I was thinking… what about “Mr. Pennycrumb. Do you like it?”</p><p>No. That’s an awfully weird name. Who names a dog that?”</p><p>Instead, they nodded and pretend it to like it to please their little brother who needed a win. “Absolutely!” “I love it!” “Best dog name ever!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Thinking of you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Allison, Klaus, Vanya, and even Ben all get a private moment with their little brother. Five tells Vanya about the sexual abuse he went thought.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was early in the morning when Five felt something lick his face, part of him was grossed out until he opened his eyes and saw his fluffy puppy greeting him happily “Good morning, Mr. Pennycrumb!”</p><p>Five sat up to hug the dog back and stretch himself. The little one smelled like fresh flowers because Diego had helped him put the dog in a bath the night prior It went horribly, they ended up soaked and full of shampoo but at least the dog was clean.</p><p>They cuddled under the warmth of his covers until he heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Allison “Rise and Shine!”</p><p>“Good morning” Five softly smiled “What are you up to?”</p><p>She smiled back, staring at his messed up morning hair “I’m recruiting a sibling to have breakfast with me. Are you down to test the new buffet around the brock?”</p><p>“Can I take Mr. Pennycumb?” Five asked with an uncharacteristic goofy smile, an expression Allison wasn’t used to seeing that look on him.</p><p>“Of course, come on.” He got dressed rapidly and they left for a short walk. Five carried the dog the whole way because he didn’t have a leash, but neither of them seemed to mind. They were already very attached to each other, the dog hadn’t left Five’s side for a second.</p><p> </p><p>The dinner was half empty, the energy was delightfully calm, and the menu seemed appetizing. They chose a table near a window, sat face to face, and ordered after Allison rumored the waiter to let them keep the dog under the table.</p><p>“Hey, can I have a coffee too?” Five asked like a little kid asking for a toy.</p><p>Allison wanted to deny because she knew it was unhealthy, but she also didn’t want Five to feel limited at all. He wanted him to have anything he wanted, so she forcefully agreed “You can have anything you like, but keep in mind that stuff is unhealthy.”</p><p>Five raised an eyebrow “Then why do you drink it all the time?”</p><p>Allison wanted to laugh, this is the Five she remembered. The one who always had to have the last word. “It helps me with my nerves, and it gives me energy. You know it’s hard with the job, my marriage, my daughter-”</p><p>“You have a daughter?!” Five cut her off, raising his voice with amazement, his eyes widen with joy “Where is she? What’s her name? How old is she?”</p><p>Allison chuckled at the picture of worried little uncle Five “Her name is Claire, she’s six years old, and she’s in California with her dad… we recently divorce.”</p><p>“I’m sorry about that” Five’s smile faded away for a couple of seconds as Allison looked down, but he wisely changed the subject “Do you have any pictures of Claire?”</p><p>Allison instantly cheered back up and took her cellphone out of her pocket “Look!” she scrolled down and showed him pictures of Claire in Disneyworld, at the beach, at the park, at her birthday party sleeping, crying, eating, and so on.</p><p>“She’s gorgeous!” Five said under his breath, slowly taking in the fact that he had a niece. “She seems lovely.”</p><p>“Don’t be fooled by a picture, she can be ha little demon when she wants” Allison corrected and they both laughed. “I’ll bring her to the house as soon as I can, I want her to meet all of you.”</p><p>Five seemed taken back, his eyes saddened “I wish I would have been here for her before.”</p><p>Allison reached to take his hand and flat it with sympathy “I know Five, but it’s not too late. You're still her uncle and you'll get the chance to attend her tea parties, and spoil her with gifts, and spend as much time with her as you want. You have all the time in the world, and you’ll be an amazing uncle. She’s very excited about meeting you guys,”</p><p>Five breathed deeply, trying to contain his tears “You told her about us?... about me?”</p><p>“Of course I did!” Allison exclaimed like it was obvious “I told her stories about all our missions, but she especially liked the ones about our childhood and all the chaos we caused. I told her about all our snow fights, about the time when you teleported a sandcastle into your room, about how you let me put makeup on you when I was sad, and how you would always win at hiding and seek because you cheated!”</p><p>“Hey! I adapted!” Five chuckled thinking about all the fights they had because of the overuse of his powers. “I missed the good old times”</p><p>“I missed them too,” She took leaned in and took Five's hand “and I missed you Five.”</p><p>“I missed you too, Allison.” He replied with a smile. They ate and talked some more about Claire, about the few nostalgic parts of their childhoods, and about everything Five missed. They finished their meals around an hour later and left for a walk in the park to play catch with Mr. Pennycumb.</p><p>It was unusual for them to get along so well, to feel so free and so carelessly. For the first time in years, Five felt at peace.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Saturday morning arrived and Five sat on the front door stairs with his dog, impatiently waiting for his sister to pick him up. Vanya had promised to spend her free weekend with her long-missing brother, she had special plans for them.</p><p>Vanya stepped out of the taxi and told the driver to wait a couple of seconds, she jumped when Five teleported right in front her and greeted “Hey Vanya!”</p><p>“Jesus Five!” Vanya laughed and signaled for him to get in the car "Are you ready?"</p><p>"Of course I am" The kid picked up his puppy and got in with a smile. They sat side by side and made some small talk until Five finally asked “Where are we going, exactly?”</p><p>“We’re going to a farm” at Vanya’s response, Five got even more confused. She laughed and explained “My girlfriend lives outside the city with her son. I only get to visit her on weekends and I thought I’d bring you this time.”</p><p>Five’s smile grew from cheek to cheek “Hold on, back up, you have a girlfriend?!”</p><p>Vanya’s face turned red, she giggled like a highschool girl “Yes, I’m in a relationship and we’re very happy”</p><p>The boy didn’t wait until the end of the sentence to wrap her hands around his sister and congratulate her “I’m so happy for you!”</p><p>“Thank you Five” Vanya hugged him back and thought about how lucky she was of having her family’s support on this. “I’m so excited for you to meet her, she’s amazing.”</p><p>“I bet she is” Five winked and made his sister laugh louder than normally “How long have you been together? How did you meet?”</p><p>Vanya’s smile grew wider as she spoke “She moved to the city two years ago, looking for a specialized school for her who has autism. She had just divorced, she was sad, stressed about finding a job, and scared of raising a kid alone. I met her at a bar, she was drinking her problems away at ten pm of the morning, I tried to calm her down and make her realize how strong, beautiful, and smart she was. I offered to teach her son for free and she accepted, then we started hanging out after every lesson. Sooner than later we started dating, and we’ve been together for ten months now.”</p><p>At the end of the story, Vanya saw something she never thought she would see: Five made the cutest ‘awwn’ sound. He was truly happy for her, proud of how she put herself out there and found the woman of her dreams.</p><p>Vanya added “She’s truly wonderful: she’s funny, she’s confident, and she has such a big heart. Oh and Harland, her son, is a very quiet and smart kid, he’s so creative and positive”</p><p>For the rest of the road, Vanya talked non-stop about the two most important people in her life, and Five was more than delighted to hear her go. When the taxi parked in front of the cute little house with a backyard full of animals, the two siblings paid him and stepped out.</p><p>As soon as he got out, Five saw a gorgeous blond lady standing on her front porch and waving at them with a contagious smile “Hello dear!”</p><p>Vanya practically ran to her and they kissed like they hadn’t seen each other in months, it made Five smiles wider. Vanya pulled back and wrapped her hands around her little brother “Sissy, I want you to meet my brother, this is Five”</p><p>Five smiled at the lady and before he could shake her hand, Sissy hugged him tightly “I’m so glad to meet you! Vanya has talked plenty of you”</p><p>The boy was stiff, but he tried to hug her back to make it less unnatural “Nice to meet you too, Vanya told me a lot about you guys too.”</p><p>“She’s such a sweetheart,” the lady said and all three of them laughed. Sissy held Five’s cold hand and pulled him softly “Let’s go inside, it’s cold here. I made a pie and some coffee”</p><p>At the mentioned of coffee, Five started marching faster and Mr. Pennycrumb followed close behind with a happy tail moving side to side.</p><p>While Sissy and Vanya prepared lunch for all of them, Five and Harland hit it off perfectly. They mostly bonded over Mr. Pennycumb because Harland loved animals, he seemed serene and very engaged. Five was extremely nice to the boy and even ended up playing Hide &amp; Seek and drawing with him. It was emotional for the single mother to see her little son make friends, and it was the first time Vanya had seen Five so easy-going and tranquil. The whole thing was adorable to watch.</p><p>Hours passed before the four of them sat around the table and ate an entire buffet. Five politely addressed Sissy after they started eating “It’s delicious Miss”</p><p>“Thank you, sweetie! Just all me Sissy” she smiled proudly “I love to cook, I overdo it when Vanya’s around. I get very excited”</p><p>Vanya blew her a kiss from across the table, and Five smiled again “You two are a lovely couple.”</p><p>“Thank you, you’re such a polite young man,” Sissy complimented as she served the two boys some homemade apple juice “You know, Vanya is very lucky to have you and your other siblings. Your family was very accepting of us. They welcomed Harland and me with open hands.”</p><p>“You met the others?” Five asked and threw a very confused look at Vanya.</p><p>His sister answered hesitantly “They did, I hosted a Christmas dinner party at my apartment last year and surprisingly they all showed up. I guess they had nowhere else to go.”</p><p>“No, I just think they love you a lot” Sissy tried to sound supportive, truth was that she knew how complicated the full story was. She knew about their horrible father, their crappy childhood, Five’s disappearance, Ben’s traumatic death, Klaus’ drug addiction, and homelessness, Diego’s sassiness and superhero complex, Luther’s mission to the moon, and Allison’s divorce. She knew they only had each other, no other choice.</p><p>Sissy went back to her original point in more depth “As I was saying earlier, thank you for being so open-minded and understanding. My family was not like that at all… when I came out, they sent me to a priest who humiliated me and forced me to marry a man I didn’t love. This hateful man was so disrespectful, sexist and he didn’t really know what consent meant. I reached my last straw when he laid his hand on my boy, I filed for divorced and ran away from that town. And here we are!”</p><p>There was a brief moment of silence while Five processes the story, he looked at the woman with an understanding expression “I’m sorry you had to go through all that, you deserved both better.”</p><p>“It’s okay, without all that I would have never had my wonderful boy, and I would have never found Vanya.” Sissy explained with a truthful smile, she shrugged and procced “Unfortunately, this world is full of disgusting men like my father and my ex-husband.”</p><p>Five lower his eyes and clicked his tongue “That I know about”</p><p>Vanya suddenly worried. Something about her little brother’s tone made her believe that there was something deeper going on “because of dad?”</p><p>Five’s heartbeat raised, his palms suddenly sweated and his appetite cut short. He could remember everything the Commissioner had put him through, how all his rights were violated, how he slaved like it was no big deal. “I- I need some air. Excuse me”</p><p>Five stepped out to the porch, followed by his worried dog, and as soon as the dog started whining Five broke down to tears. He couldn’t breathe, his chest tightened enough to hurt, his throat was sore and he was dizzy. He sat down and cried his eyes out, he felt pathetic all over again.</p><p>“Five?” Vanya’s small voice call from behind “Five are you okay?”</p><p>“Clearly not,” Five said without thinking, full of resentment and anger. He felt like ripping his skin off, he couldn’t stop thinking about it… “I’m sorry Vanya”</p><p>“It’s okay” she reassured and sat close to him, she put her hand on his shoulder and felt him shake at the sudden touch, still not used to other people “Whatever it is Five, you can talk to me. Remember that, okay?”</p><p>Five nodded and bit his lips, trying to gather the strength to say what was on the tip of his tongue “Vanya… there’s something I haven’t told you guys yet.”</p><p>Vanya's heart too was pounding fast now, she was worried about what else could have possibly happened to Five aside from being tortured, encapsulated, drugged, and experimented on for four months. <em>What could top that off?</em> “What is it, Five?”</p><p>The child swallowed hard, and tried to clean his tears but failed to stop his own crying. He was overwhelmed by the memories, by the realization of everything he had gone through “At the commission… there was this man. The commissioner, he was one of the bosses, he used to…”</p><p>Somehow, a part of Vanya knew where this was going, but she refused to ease into it. “He ‘used to’ what, Five?”</p><p>Five’s whimpering got more intense, he felt like time was going slower and his head was going aster, he could barely speak through sobs “He used to take me to his room at night, a couple of times per month, and he would… have some fun with me.”</p><p>The way the seventeen years old said it as if it were a normal thing. As if he had no right to call it otherwise, it made Vanya sick. “He raped you.”</p><p>Five nodded.</p><p>“More than once.”</p><p>Five nodded again.</p><p>“He hurt you. He used you.”</p><p>Five nodded once more.</p><p>Vanya was crying now too, thinking about her strongest brother, the little ball of fierce and sharpness, getting raped by a repugnant pervert. It made her blood boil so fast that she couldn't even think anymore, she just hugged Five and let him sobbed trying to control her own years to be strong for him. “I’m so sorry buddy”</p><p>Five shook his head “It’s okay, it only hurt at first. I got used to it”</p><p>Vanya wanted to scream, oh dear lord- “You can,t get used to that Five, that’s not fair.”</p><p>Five didn't exactly know how to answer, all this time he had always thought of ways to justify it for it to hurt a little less “I was his property, Vanya, it was his right.”</p><p>“No! Don’t say that!” His big sister lost it at that, she was the one sniveling while he looked like a robot, programmed to obey its master. “You are nobody’s property, do you hear me Five? You never were, and you never will be. You are a human being with rights, and what they did to you was unacceptable. You did not deserve that, you’re just a kid.”</p><p>Five shut his mouth after that, he had never heard his sister sound so angry, so desperate for him to listen. He just nodded and whispered “Okay”</p><p>Vanya kissed the teenager’s head repentantly, she protectable hugged his underweight body and thought about how much she hated this cruel world “He’s not going to hurt you ever again, Five, I promise.”</p><p>
  <em>Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> The following two days went by too fast. The trio went out of the couple went out of their way to ensure Five had fun. Throughout the weekend, they planned a picnic, watched the stars, swam in the lake, played with the animals, and much more. Vanya’s ultimate goal was to take Five’s head out of his past four years at the commission, she just wanted to see him be a kid because he never got the chance.</p><p>On Sunday afternoon, the four of them were sitting around the living room waiting for a cab to take Vanya and Five back to the city. While they waited, they build a puzzle with Harland, nd chatted.</p><p>It was peaceful until Five asked innocently “Why don’t you move in together?”</p><p>Vanya and Sissy both froze, looking at each other and blushing. The brunette answered “Because my job is in the city, Five. We don’t take downtown is a good place for Harland.”</p><p>Five made a funny face “Then why don’t you look for a job here. You could be a music teacher at Harland’s school! You’re amazing with kids, you love music, and we all know you hate your orchestra.”</p><p>At that, both adults laughed, knowing damn well how right the teenager was. Vanya smiled at Sissy, they telepathically agreed that it wasn’t a terrible idea, the shorter one replied again “I’ll think about it”</p><p>She didn’t just think about it, a month later she was presenting a program to teach classical music to autistic children, and it was approved right away.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Monday was quiet and the house was empty for most of the day. Five was bored out of his mind, reading every book he could get this hands-on until Klaus stepped in the front door and Five ran to him with an adorable smile “Hey, Klaus! How are you?”</p><p>“Rusty, kiddo, I am not a morning person.” He answered looking drained.</p><p>“Morning? It’s past 3pm” Five said with his usual silent laugh “Mom made pancakes earlier, want some leftovers?”</p><p>Klaus hesitated but Ben forced him to say yes, yapping about he needed something more nutritious than weed “Yeah, I'll take some, thanks baby bro”</p><p>Klaus moved over and signaled Five to sit beside him. They sat apple cross face to face and Klaus started eating while Five talked hesitantly “So… Klaus, do you want to play UNO with me?”</p><p>Klaus was too surprised to reply right away, to his memory, Five wasn’t the type to be enthusiastic about board games. He would only play when he was bored out of his mind, and he would normally keep a bitchy face on and brag about winning, so they stopped playing with him when they were ten years old. Thinking back, maybe Five wasn’t the only asshole in the situation “I would love to!”</p><p>Five threw a childish smile and started separating the carts, it felt weird to see him so breezy “Allison bought me this at the dollar store last week, she also got a Monopoly but we’ll play that when the others come home.”</p><p>Hearing Five talk about them like they were a normal family who came home every night to play board games and have bonding time… it honestly broke Klaus’ heart. This sweet, innocent boy deserved a real family who would give them exactly that and more.</p><p>“Let’s make it interesting, if I win, you’ll come shopping with me and you’ll have to wear anything I chose for you at the store for you,” Klaus commented.</p><p>Five laughed but didn’t deny “What do I get if I win?”</p><p>“I’ll clean up Mr.Pennycumb’s messes for a month.”</p><p>“Make it six months” the kid smirked.</p><p>It was Klaus’ turn to laugh and remember the good old times where his brother’s confidence and fierce was noticeable from a mile away “Five months and we have a deal.”</p><p>Five nodded and shook Klaus’ hand “I like that number”</p><p>They played for half an hour, it was intense and filled with insults and laughter, but at the end Five was the winner. Klaus had to pick dog poop for the following five months.</p><p>They played a couple more minutes before switching to chess, and then to scrabble, and topping it all with a long game of battleship at the end of the afternoon.</p><p>“I’m surprised dad let us have all these games.” Five asked as he watched Klaus placed the game back in its box.</p><p>“Oh good old dad wasn’t that bad. We had a ton of toys as kids, and he even brought us to the park, to the mall, and the movies. He was just a very horrendous dad, that’s all!” Klaus said with a clear sarcasm in his delighted voice.</p><p>Five chuckled ironically “Yeah, I remember when we were toddlers and he would let us two extra minutes in the main playroom for every test question we got right… we were three years old and already having quizzes about Greek literature.”</p><p>The conversation went on some more before Klaus changed the subject “By the way, how are you so good at this? You won almost every time!”</p><p>Five’s eyes turned sad all a sudden, almost like a kicked puppy. He pouted before quietly answering “Ben used to play with me. He felt bad when you all excluded me from game nights, it was pitiful”</p><p>Ben, who was sitting on the couch watching them play all afternoon and rooting for Five all the way, seemed to sadden by the memory too. He got up to get Klaus’ attention and spoke with rapidly with a worried expression “That’s not true, Klaus tell him that it wasn’t pitying. Tell him that I loved playing with him, remind him how much we used to have”</p><p>Klaus looked at Ben for longer than intended, making Five impatient before he turned to him “Ben’s here. He wants me to tell you that he misses playing with you.”</p><p>Ben was surprised to hear Klaus actually take him seriously, he had never mentioned that he talked to Ben. The rest of the family had always assumed that Klaus wasn’t powerful enough to find Ben, and Klaus never spoke about his powers.</p><p> </p><p>Five’s jaw dropped, his eyes searched through the room as he freaked out “What? Ben’s here? What do you mean?”</p><p>Klaus held his little brother’s shaking hand and smiled “Calm down buddy, Ben’s always around me. He follows me everywhere like a real pain in the ass, telling me what to do and stuff”</p><p>Five was shocked for a couple more minutes, he had ignored Ben’s death and tried to mourn on his own, but knowing that he was watching upon them all this time truly made Five wake up and realize that his brother was really gone. Ben was dead. Ben was a ghost. When it hit him, Five broke down in loud sobs</p><p>Klaus didn’t know how to deal with this, he looked at Ben who was bawling his eyes out too. The image of Five crying was too unusual for all of them, hearing him sob could send any of the Hargreeves into a download spiral. “It’s okay, Ben is okay, don’t cry buddy.”</p><p>Ben took a deep breath to talk between sobs “Can you tell him that I missed him a lot? Tell him that nothing was the same without him, that I’m sorry about what happened, and that I’m so glad he’s home.”</p><p>Klaus repeated every word Ben said, which he hardly ever did when Ben tried to help him.</p><p>It made Five howls even louder “You’re lying!”</p><p>Klaus shook his head and tighten his grip on his baby brother’s hands “No, Five, I’m not. Ben is standing right above you, he’s crying happy tears and he wants you to know that he loves you a lot.”</p><p>At that Five looked at the direction Klaus was looking at, where Ben was standing, he smiled weakly and muttered “I love you too, Ben. I’m sorry I wasn’t there… I could have prevented it….”</p><p>Ben was too overwhelmed to talk, in seventeen years he hadn’t gotten any interaction with anyone but Klaus, now he got to connect with his long lost brother.</p><p>At the lack of words from Ben, Klaus took charge again “Don’t say that buddy, there’s nothing you could have done. What happened to Ben was nobody’s fault, okay?”</p><p>At that Five nodded and cleaned his tears, when Klaus opened his arms to hug him, the kid leaned in and rested his head on his older brother’s shoulder.</p><p>They stayed like that for a while, holding on to each other like holding on to dear life “I love you Five”</p><p>Five’s hold got tighter when his older brother kissed his forehead softly “I love you too Klaus. I love you all so much.”</p><p>
  <em>If only this could last forever.</em>
</p><p>It was the middle of the night when Five heard a singing he had heard too many times before. He peeked his eyes open and that’s when he saw them…</p><p>… the Handler and the Commissioner, the two people who had <em>ruined his life.</em> The two people who had <em>ruined him</em>.</p><p>
  <em>They’re here for me. They’re here to screw me over again. Please no.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Five never gets to say goodbye. Will, he ever see his family again?</p><p>Only two left! Next chapter this week!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Back before you know it</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Here's the explanation I owed you. Why did the commission want Five?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The child opened his eyes when he heard someone muttering a song from ‘Lalaland’ next to his bed. He finally sat up when he heard the voice that haunted his dreams “Good morning Number Five!”</p><p>It was the Commissioner and the Handler. The man stood by the door, blocking it with a disgusting smile, and the woman in the extravagant dress watched over his bed with a very creepy look. Five wanted to scream, but for some reason, no noise was coming out of his mouth.</p><p>The man smiled wider at the sight of the scared little boy “What have you been up to kid? How’s the vacation going?”</p><p>Five shook his head and glued his back to the head of the bed, hiding behind his skinny legs to cover his brusque shaking “What do you want from me?”</p><p>The Handler chuckled “We want you, silly! You have to get back to work someday.”</p><p>At that, tears ran the little one’s face, he couldn’t believe he was crying for a third time in twelve hours. “No.”</p><p>“Oh, did someone grew balls?” the Commissioner laughed and approached him slowly “Listen honey, you can either collaborate and come back to normal, or we can do this the hard way. You know what’s the regretful one.”</p><p>Five’s face went red, he was mad “Why? What do you want from me?”</p><p>The two looked at each other before the woman decided to answer the question that Five had been asking himself since he was thirteen “We’re basing a big project on you, Number Five. We observed you for a while, we know you have great potential, and we thought you were our best choice.”</p><p>Five frowned, trying to keep his breathing low and feeling his heart pounding too fast “The best choice for what?”</p><p>The woman put his hand on the boy’s shoulder making him twitch, she answered with a mischievous smile “To clone you, dear.”</p><p>What?</p><p>After moments of silence, the tall man snickered “We came to the conclusion that recruiting hitmen for our organization was a big waste of time, a process we could easily skip. We thought that if we found the key to cloning and the perfect candidate, we would save tons of money and space.”</p><p>“Then we found you!” The Handler poked his nose and giggled sickly “You were meant to die alone, old, exhausted after six decades of leaving in an empty post-apocalyptic word. Nobody would miss you, nobody was looking for you. To top it off, you ave some impressive fight skills, you're extremely high on the smartness scale, and you can jump through time and space. How exciting is all that!”</p><p>They both laughed and the Commissioner continued “You did have potential, I mean you were trained to fight all your life, but we still needed to test your strength, your discipline, and your perseverance. We made you stronger, we made you a machine. There are only a couple more steps before we can start cloning.”</p><p>Five froze. In theory, he understood what was going on, but he couldn’t bring himself to accept it. <em>This must be a joke</em>. “What do you mean with ‘made me a machine’?”</p><p>The man procced “Let’s see: first, we injected you with all sorts of vaccines to make you unbreakable, you're now successfully immune to any sickness. We made you almost immortal: we’ve tried to kill you and you’ve miraculously survived everything. On top of everything, we implanted DNA samples from the best killers in all history, into your little cute body. Now, thanks to the software that we implanted in your brain, we only need to press a button and you’ll be killing with no mercy. If we can clone you, we’ll have control of an army of the best assassins that ever existed.”</p><p>“Oh my god…” Five tried to process one thing at the time, staring at the nothingness and trying to keep himself for screaming. “… wait, what button?”</p><p>The Handler clapped her hand, looking more and more like a crazy lady every time she spoke “That’s the best part! It took a lot of work, but we successfully implanted a computerized system into your brain. We can see what you see, hear what you hear, and even see what you’re thinking! Isn’t that amazing?”</p><p>
  <em>This must be a fucking joke.</em>
</p><p>The woman took out a remote control and continued “It was pretty difficult, remember when you were really sick about a year ago? You were throwing up, you had a fever, and you felt like dying? Yeah, it’s because we had some complications with the installation of the software. It all works now, you're all ours for real, look!”</p><p>She clicked a button and made Five screamed higher than he had ever scrambled before. His body fl like it was on fire, he wanted to peel off his skin, something was ringing his sears making he want to bang his head against the desk to make it stop. He could barely formulate words “STOP! STOP! NO!”</p><p>Out of nowhere, the door got kicked open by a three-meter giant with astronomical feet. “Five? What the fuck?”</p><p>The two other adults in the room turned around to face Luther and his confused face “Hello! You must be Number One”</p><p>“What are you doing to my brother! Stop!” He took a couple of steps towards Five before the lady took out a dagger and rapidly stabbed the man on the chest “AHH!”</p><p>By then they had switched the pain off and Five was calming down, crying for them to leave Luther alone “Leave him alone! Please, don’t hurt him!”</p><p>“Alright, let’s make a deal.” the Commissioner sat on Five’s bed, where the kid was still sitting because he was too afraid to stand up. The man got too close for comfort, making Five want to vomit “You come with us, and you behave like the good boy you are, and in exchanged your family will stay intact.”</p><p>Luther shook his head, he couldn’t move due to the horrible pain right beside his heart, but he could still talk with a panic in his voice “No, Five! Don’t go! We’ll find a way, we’ll be fine. Don’t go back there.”</p><p>Before the ape-man could say anything more, the Handler took the closest metal lamp and slammed it hard against Luther’s forehead. Making the man fall on his stomach. Luther wasn’t unconscious but he seemed too unfocused to keep talking. “So, Number Five, do we have a deal?”</p><p>“Okay, I’ll do anything” Hot tears were coming down Five’s big hurt eyes, he quivered some more before asking softly “Will ever see them again?”</p><p>There was silence. Five was looking between the two horrendous people surrounding him, trying to look for any compassion in them. The sight of Five would make anyone cry, he looked lugubrious, like a depressed onion cutting himself. He just stood there and cried more.</p><p>The Handler finally cleared his throat, got between his knees, and gave him a very fake smile “If you cooperate with us until the progress is completely done, you can come back to the time of your choice and continue with your life.”</p><p>Five felt hopeful for a slight second, trying to not get his hopes too high, knowing how unlucky he usually was “So I can come back here.”</p><p>Both of them nodded, and the rapist beside him offered him his hand “Deal.”</p><p>Five shook it, and before he knew it, a blue flash encircled them and they weren’t in his room anymore.</p><p>Five was gone again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Wait- so you’re saying- Five’s <strong>gone</strong>?”</p><p>Luther was holding ice to his head, on the spot where the handled had smashed a lamp against his head. His stomach still hurt from the deep scar of the knife she put through him. The big guy felt ashamed of h=imself, he was mad sat the world, he couldn’t believe he wasn’t capable of saving his brother. “Yes, Five’s gone. He’s at the commission.”</p><p>“Well, we have to look for him!” Diego was red in the face, screaming at Luther like it was his fault.</p><p>“Diego, calm down!” Allison got in between the two, trying to make Diego sit down and breathe “We have no idea where he is. We have no clue at all, how are we going to find him?”</p><p>Diego looked furious like he was the only one trying. His anger was making him incapable of thinking straight, he could barely talk without stuttering “I-I don’t k-know.”</p><p>The room fell in silence, they had nothing to say, there was nothing to do.</p><p>After they reflected for some time, Allison took a deep breath and asked “Do you think they’ll keep their deal? You think they’ll let him go?”</p><p>Klaus scoffed, his expression turning dark “If he makes it out alive, maybe”</p><p>They all looked at him with horror, Vanya whispered “what?”</p><p>Klaus wasn’t looking at any of them, he was looking at the drink in his hand and trying to speak without letting them hear the fear in his voice “You all heard how they treated Five. They were monsters, he went through hell! They’ll probably treat him worst now that he successfully escaped once. I can’t even imagine what they might do to our lil bro”</p><p>The other siblings all looked at each other, waiting for somebody to have anything positive to say. Anything that could give them some hope. </p><p>Sadly, the next thing Luther said didn’t help much “They said they needed to keep doing experiments on him, they even implanted something in his head to control him”</p><p>“What?” “Control him?” “How?” “Why the experiments?”</p><p>“Yeah they have like a control remote to control him, I guess it’s to ensure that he doesn’t escape again,” Luther said hesitantly, trying to shake out of his head the sound of his brother screaming in pain because of them.</p><p>Vanya spoke again, even quieter than before “Why would they do that?”</p><p>Luther cleared his throat, not sure of how his siblings would react “If I heard correctly… they want to clone him. They want to make an army of Fives.”</p><p>It wasn’t the moment for movie references, but Diego took no time ”What? Like in Star Wars?”</p><p>Allison rolled her eyes at him and ignored him. She sat down with her sister and tried to calm the mood down “Five is bright,, he’s brave, and he’s a fighter. He’s going to be okay, and he’s going to come back. We’ll just have to wait.”</p><p>Vanya couldn’t let her siblings see her cry, she wanted them to forget about how fragile she was inside. She kept it all in, stood up, and walked out of the house without saying a word.</p><p>She was mad, sad, disappointed, frustrated, worried, scared, she was about to explode. How could you leave me again Five? Where he fuck are you? Why did you leave again? Why wasn't there with you? Don’t you know how much I missed you?</p><p>I didn’t have time to tell him “I love you, Five”</p><p>
  <em>If you don’t come back, you little shit, I’ll kill you myself.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't like this, but the next one is pretty cute! NEXT WEEK IS THE LAST ONE AAAHH!<br/>((Edit: I divided the last one into two parts))</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Back to you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Five comes back from the Commission and nobody is there to greet him. He goes into an extreme downward spiral of depression and almost makes the biggest mistake of his life.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>IMPORTANT: DESCRIPTIVE SUICIDAL THOUGHTS AND SUICIDE ATTEMPT.</p><p>Also! this one is NOT the last one, I kept a short epilogue for later this week :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I did my part of the deal, now you have to do yours.”</p><p>“Yes boy, we do owe you one”</p><p>Five was standing in front of the Handler’s desk, looking furious and standing in a solid posture. After sixteen years of being locked in the Commission, working for those sick bastards under horrible conditions, and taking their abuse, Number Five was done. He had collaborated, he had kept quiet, and now he was a grown-up. He wasn’t a scared kid anymore, he was a grown man demanding his rightfully deserved freedom.</p><p>The Handler, that atrocious woman who somehow hadn’t even aged one day, was smiling up at her under her ridiculous hat. She laughed spitefully before saying “I remember the day you got here. You were such a cutie! Oh, I’ll miss those big green eyes, that adorable dimple, those pink cheeks-”</p><p>“Shut up.” Five growled at her “We're done here. Take me to my family, now.”</p><p>The woman laughed, standing up and walking to him with all her patience “Ready to go so soon? Won’t you miss us? Don’t you want to say goodbye properly?”</p><p>“No. I won’t miss you” A vein was popping out of Five’s forehead, he tried his best to contain his anger as he hissed “You ruined my life, you made me miserable, I despite this place and everyone here. I want to go.”</p><p>Before she could respond with her creepy look, somebody else replied from behind Five “Well I know I’ll miss you, sweetheart”</p><p>When he heard the more despicable voice he knew, Five turned around to face the disgusting man standing under the door frame, the Commissioner.</p><p>The man, who also hadn’t aged much, stepped towards him with a cocky expression “To be honest, I never thought we would actually let you go. I guess we already have everything we needed from you.”</p><p>Five couldn’t take his eyes out of the man, after years of being forced to look down like a slave, all he wanted to do was step up and punch this man in the face. Multiple times.</p><p>The man finally stopped in front of him and sickly flatted the younger one’s brown hair. Five jerked violently but didn’t move, he was trying his best to collect his own rage, but he almost lost it when the man whispered to his year “I would have treated you like a princess”</p><p>Five’s cheeks turned red, his whole body flinched, but somehow he got the strength to finally talk back “You. You sick son of a bitch. You raped me, you used me, you broke me. You had no right. You make me sick, I hate you so fucking much. I hope you rot to death, you don’t deserve to live.” He turned around and pointed his finger right at the woman’s face “and neither do you”</p><p>A silence took over the room, Five had another million things to say but instead, he just bit his lip and hissed “As I've said before, I want to go. Now.”</p><p>Just like that, they shook hands and the briefcase took him back.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Five appeared in the middle of his childhood bedroom, alone and confused. He pinched himself to be sure it wasn’t a dream, he was home and he was really free this time.</p><p>The now-grown man ran out of his bedroom and got to the main halls where his sibling’s room where. “Luther! Diego! Klaus!”</p><p>He stopped at every door and yelled his loved-ones’ names with joy in his voice. It seemed to be empty but he would not give up that easily, he searched in every room until he got to the basement.</p><p>“Vanya, Allison… Anyone?” Five’s excitement had faded away, he entered the kitchen with a frown and lost all hopes of finding them.</p><p>Before he could sit down, a voice charmingly greeted him “Master Five, so nice to see you”</p><p>Five jumped and his head spun around, the smile appeared back again when he caught a glance of his dear old friend “Pogo! Thank god, I thought I was alone”</p><p>Pogo smiled back at the boy he missed so much and chuckled when he wrapped his skinny arms around him “Oh, you have no idea how much I missed you master”</p><p>Five was clinging to his mentor like hanging on to dear life. Pogo was the fraternal figure that every kid needed in their lives, he was strict and wise but also loving, compassionate, and a literal teddy bear. The two had a special bond, it made Five worship the chimpanzee all his childhood “I can’t believe I haven’t seen you in like fifteen years! I didn't see you the last time I was here”</p><p>“You mean two weeks ago?” Pogo raised an eyebrow and replaced his minuscule glasses “Your brothers and sisters were all over you, they seemed quite busy, I didn’t want to worsen the situation. You looked quite different back then.”</p><p>Five let out a discomforting laugh “Yeah, well that’s because I was seventeen and afraid. It’s only been two weeks for you but it’s been a bunch of years for me. Since then, I got my shit together-”</p><p>“Language.” Pogo said patiently and patted the younger one’s shoulder.</p><p>Five looked around one more time and asked “Anyways, where is everyone?”</p><p>Pogo cleared his tongue “After you disappeared, they all stayed in the house for half a week waiting for you. Although, after a couple of days they all had to go back to their jobs and responsibilities.”</p><p>“Oh” Five knew it made sense, they couldn’t just wait around until he came back. “What about Luther? Didn’t he live here?”</p><p>“He left with Mrs. Allison to California, sir” Pogo made an apologetic look and watched the young man’s shoulders go down in unconscious disappointment.</p><p>“Do you have any of their numbers? Or their address?” Five was still an enthusiast, still couldn’t believe he was home.</p><p>“I’m afraid not, sir,” Pogo said in a soft voice. He looked up at the sad old man, although in his eyes he would always see the children as the little toddlers who ran to his arms whenever they were sad.</p><p>“Oh…” Five looked around the kitchen and smiled when he caught a glimpse of the ‘Mouse Trap’ board game on the breakfast table. They used to play it all the time on their thirty-minutes break after dinner. “Oh god! I used to love that game!”</p><p>Pogo eyed at him and clicked his tongue “Yes, but you were always a very sore winner. Your siblings didn’t like it much.”</p><p>Five looked somewhat embarrassed, he bit his lips and looked down at the game once more “I know, I was such a pain in the ass. That’s why they stopped playing with me.”</p><p>A part of Pogo just wanted to hold his hand and lead him to the library where he used to read books to him to distract him when the other boys would leave him out of their games. Five was naturally smart, very arrogant, and show-off, so it was understandable that the other kids didn’t always include him in their innocent games. The kid always pretended not to care, but now and then Pogo would find him crying and take care of it.</p><p>The black-haired mad walk to the nearest chair and delicately sat down “I used to wonder if they even missed me….”</p><p>Pogo’s looked hurt, he frowns down and replied “Of course they did, you know how much they love you. We never lost hope of seeing you again.”</p><p>
  <em>Then where are they?</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>For the first couple of days, Five kept his hopes up and waited impatiently for one of his siblings to enter the front door and wrap him in a warm hug. He knew that it had only been three weeks since they hadn’t seen him, but he hadn’t seen them in over fifteen years.</p><p>After the sixth day, his mood changed. He started feeling sad for himself, he took two-hours long baths, four naps per day, and he spent most of his nights watching the security footage from when they were children.</p><p>On the second week, Pogo started getting worried and taking him out for short walks and little talks. Still, Five was getting quieter by the minute.</p><p>When Grace caught him weeping with an empty bottle of tequila in hand, her motherly instincts kicked in. She started supervising him more laboriously: she tucked him in bed, helped him get dressed, and basically fed him herself because he wouldn't eat otherwise. When his night terrors came back, she had to start diluted pills in his tea to get him through the night, but that seemed to worsen his state of numbness. </p><p>After three weeks, he hit rock bottom.</p><p>“I’m pathetic.” Five thought while sitting on his bed, hiding his head behind his knees like he used to do in the cell “I have nobody. I have no future. I’m a mess. I’m a failure.”</p><p>Let’s face it, his family didn’t give a shit about him. He was alone except for his robot mother and his monkey babysitter. He was almost thirty and yet had no friends, love interest, job, or profession. He lived in the childhood home where his father made him feel useless all his life. He spent his days wasting oxygen, with nothing to look forward to and regretting the only meaningful decision he ever took.</p><p>“I’m such an idiot. I fucked it all up. It’s all my fault.”</p><p>
  <em>It's time. Nobody is going to miss me anyway. It’s time to end it all.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>It was past midnight, Grace was recharging, Pogo was sleeping, and Five was putting on pants for the first time in two weeks. He put on a jacket and shoes and walked out of the house like he was going to take a simple walk.</p><p>Five walked slowly as he thought about his siblings, about all the times they sneaked out together to go to the movies or the theme park. He thought about the few times they were allowed to celebrate Christmas and Valentine’s Day. He thought about his late-nights deep talks with his sisters, and the time he tried to shave with his brothers. He thought about the secret dreams he had of going to college with them, attending their weddings, helping them move into a new house, or meeting his nephews and nieces.</p><p>
  <em>Am I really going to give up on that? I mean, is that even going to happen?</em>
</p><p>He stopped walking and looked down in shame. <em>You’re so weak, are you really going to this?</em></p><p>
  <em>Yeah, how hard can it be?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Five stopped got to the park where he spent his Sunday afternoon with his siblings when they were toddlers. The nanny’s used to make them snacks and take them for picnics.</p><p>He sat on an empty bench and reached in his pocket and took out a knife.</p><p>He had thought of every way to do it: he didn’t want anything dramatic but he didn’t want to die at home for his mother and paternal figure to find him. This was perfect, he would just cut his veins, pass out and his body would be thrown away the next morning. No need to bother anyone, it was quick and easy.</p><p>With his freezing hands, he pressed it vertically against his wrist and ignored the tears running down his face. “Send me a sign, please, I don’t want to die.”</p><p>He looked up at the beautiful sky full of shining stars and whisper to himself “I’m really sorry, I-I just can’t do this anymore.”</p><p>A few more minutes passed, Five looked around for a sign from the universe, any stop sign at all.</p><p>Nothing came, so he took the knife and ran it harshly along his forearm. It hurt more than he expected but nothing he hadn’t seen before. He did the same to his other arm and dropped the knife to cry when the pain really hit him. He was sobbing, trying his best to contain his screams, and violently gasping for air. <em>This is it.</em></p><p>“Hey man, you okay?”</p><p>Five looked up and saw a man walking down the sidewalk towards him. The man was completely dressed in black and covering his face with a weird dark mask. “I heard you scream, are you hurt? Is there someone I can call for you?”</p><p>It took a moment before Five spotted the knife on the man’s left hand, Five just looked down at his own knife on the floor and tried to dissimulate the blood running down his hands.</p><p>“Dude, did you do this to yourself?” The shorter man was out of words for a minute, clearly not knowing how to handle the situation “Ok- I’m going to call an ambulance alright, don’t move.”</p><p>“Wait.” Wait a second. I know that voice. Five couldn’t properly recognize the man’s face because of the mask, but he knew that voice, he knew that annoying hero complexes, he knew exactly who this was “Diego?”</p><p>The man’s frown was visible even through the darkness, he slowly got closer to the man on the bench and stared at those familiar big green eyes, that sharp jaw, the black hair, and the pointy nose “Son of a bitch- Five?”</p><p>Five nodded slowly and instantly broke into cries, Diego dropped the knife and ran to his brother’s side to wrap his hands protectively around his slightly younger brother who buried his head in his neck “Five, oh god we need to take you to a hospital”</p><p>Five’s was covered in his own blood and falling onto Diego, the shorter man rapidly reached his cellphone and dialed 911</p><p>“The ambulance is coming Five, everything is going to be okay.” Diego was crying now too, terrorized by Five’s quiet cries of intense pain. “Just hold on, please stay awake Five”</p><p>Five tried his best to keep his eyes open, but the pain was consuming all his senses. The last thing he remembered was Diego holding his head and telling him “Everything is going to be okay.”</p><p>There is the sign.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The next morning, Five was awoken by the voices overlapping around him. He was trembling under the thin blanket and his eyes were blinded by the strong lights in the small room. He didn’t know where he was, and he didn’t remember how he got there, but he was calmed down by the familiar voices of Klaus, Vanya, and Diego. He was with his family, he was okay.</p><p>Vanya was the first to notice that he was awake, and her reflex was to throw herself at him and hug his torso delicately “Oh my god, you’re okay”</p><p>Five couldn’t hug his sister back because his arms felt extremely heavy under those tights bandages. He smiled at the sound of her sweet voice and hid his face in her hair “Hi V”</p><p>Klaus somehow resisted the urge to join the hug, he was too scared to hurt his hospitalized brother in any way. He just flatted his hair and softly greeted “Hello Fivey, how are you feeling buddy?”</p><p>“Don’t call me that” Five said flatly, making his siblings laugh. “I’m okay, where are we?”</p><p>“In the hospital, you’re going to have to stay here for a while,” Diego replied from the couch where he had been sleeping for the whole day while Five was unconscious. “You scared the shit out of us Five.”</p><p>The man on the hospital bed looked down in shame, recognizing the hurtful and disappointed look on Diego’s face. The man who had miraculously found him on the verge of drying.</p><p>Klaus changed the conversation topic before it could get darker “So look at you all grown up! You changed quite a bit didn’t you? Last time we saw you, you didn’t even have facial hair”</p><p>At Klaus giggled the room lighted up. Five smiled at the brother he missed so much “Yeah well, it’s been fifteen years since I left.”</p><p>The sentence echoed in Klaus’ mind, fifteen years. He reflected on the last day Five was here, and how he seriously thought he had lost his brother for real. After everything he had seen, who could blame Klaus for not having much hope? “We're happy you're back, little bro”</p><p>“It’s nice to see you too Klaus, I missed you all” Five replied and smiled warmly when Klaus kissed his forehead, thinking '<em>This time, you're not going anywhere'.</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Only a day later, Five was sent back home.</p><p>After picking up his medicine early in the morning, Diego showed up in his hospital room with a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich, a large thermos with hot coffee, a bag of comfortable clothes. He helped him get dressed and held his shoulders to lead him patiently to the car where he settled him in the back seat. </p><p>Once they were both sitting in the silent car, things started to get ugly.</p><p>Five took a deep breath and started “Diego, I’m sorry-”</p><p>“No. You don’t get to apologize for shit.” Diego cut him off and talked through his teeth “For fucks sake, what would have happened if I wouldn’t have been there? It was a pure coincidence, you would be dead right now! We wouldn’t have seen you ever again!”</p><p>Five stayed strong and looked pitifully at his brother, understanding where all this sorrow was coming from. He hadn't thought this through, if one of his siblings dropped dead right now he would lose his mind. </p><p>“Five, I know you’ve been through a lot, and you did not deserve it, but you can’t just give up. You have a life ahead of you! You have to keep fighting! You have so much to live for-”</p><p>“Like what?” Five whispered, accidentally thinking out loud and making his brother turn red in the progress.</p><p>“You have to be fucking with me.” The vein in his forehead was popping out, and his eyes were shining with tears “Your family, you dumbass! Your brothers and sisters who missed you so fucking much, or your niece who you haven’t met? Five you are a genius, you could get into any college and get a high paying job. You could find your own place, trave the world, make a bucket list, find your soulmate, adopt a dog or even kid, I DON’T KNOW F-F-FIVE!”</p><p>He stopped talking when he started stuttering, it was a natural response to his overwhelming emotions. Five felt bad, and he wished he could take it back. </p><p>While Diego took a few minutes to get it together, Five looked down and drily spoke “I got home and none of you were there. I thought you didn’t care. I felt like a worthless, idiotic little kid all over again. I have no future, I’m messed up Diego, I have nothing, I have nobody.”</p><p>Diego still couldn’t talk properly, so he just turned his back to face Five in the back seat and he took his hands warmly “Y-you have u-us.”</p><p>Five couldn’t hold it in anymore, he broke into sobs “I don’t want to bother you.”</p><p>His brother looked angry but his voice was soft, understanding the situation “Five, you could never bother us, we’re here for you. We’re a team, brother.”</p><p>Five stayed quiet, not wanting to argue when he was this sensitive. He did not want to be a burden to his family, they all had jobs and responsibilities, he was like a giant dependent baby.</p><p>“Five, let’s make a deal okay.” Diego wasn’t crying anymore, he seemed to have cooled down, he even looked a little more eager “Vanya is already housing Klaus, and Allison took Luther to California, so you are stuck with me, okay” We’re going to find a bigger place to live together, I’m going to find a better job, and we’re going to get you help, alright? We’re going to find you the best therapist in town and I’ll have your back. Everything is going to be okay.”</p><p>Five didn't have the words to express how thankful he was. He broke into cries and let Diego hug him and kiss his forehead while he whispered “It’s going to be okay, It’s going to be okay”. <strong><em>I do have a reason to live.</em></strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Once the crying settles down and Diego collected himself enough to drive, the two got to the house where everyone was waiting for them.</p><p>Luther and Allison had flown back from California the prior night, and after hours of begging Claire had convinced them to take her with them. Klaus had spent the entire morning cleaning an empty bedroom on the ground floor to keep Five from having to go up the stairs or use his powers, he had decorated it and made it cozy or him. Vanya helped Claire in the kitchen where they cooked chicken soup and some pink cupcakes for Claire. By the time Five got home, they were all sitting around the living room and helping Claire draw a ‘Welcome Home’ poster for her uncle.</p><p>Five entered through the front door and couldn’t help but smile when a bunch of people jumped on their feet and walked towards him to greet him “Hi guys”</p><p>“Oh gosh, Five!” Allison was the first to carefully hug his neck, not believing how big he looked. “You’re back”</p><p>Five couldn’t hug her back because of his wrapped arms, but he still accepted the hug “Hi sis”</p><p>After a few seconds, Allison pulled away from him and his eyes landed on the young girl hiding behind her mother's legs l “You must be Claire, nice to meet you”</p><p>“Nice to meet you too” she smiled and waved at him shyly before passing him a poster full of glitter “I made this poster for you.”</p><p>Five took the colorful drawing and blushed “It’s beautiful, thank you, I'll hang this in my room”</p><p>She smiled and took his hand, leading him to the living room where they sat side by side. Claire was usually very extroverted, but it was still unusual to see her get so trusting and attached to someone she had just met. Something about Five had a huge impact on her.</p><p>The family stayed there for the rest of the day, just enjoying family quality time. The sound of the girls giggling in Allison’s room, Luther playing with the record playing upstairs, Grace serving the boys cookies while they played poker, everything seemed so simple, so peaceful.</p><p>Five stayed quiet for most of the day, just admiring the rain outside and thinking about his life and thinking about everything he almost gave up. His family might not be perfect, but they gave him all the strength to keep living. He loved them too damn much.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>NOT THE LAST ONE! I will add an epilogue in a few days, I'll post it in 3 days, I'll miss this fic so much :(</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter - 5 years into Five's happier life</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you like the final chapter!</p><p>I'll miss this so much :(</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>5 YEARS LATER </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was October 1st, 2024, and the Hargreeves were celebrating their 35th birthday.</p><p>Normally they would just call each other for curtesy and just celebrate on their own. This year, to Allison’s request, they were all celebrating together at a new fancy restaurant place downtown.</p><p>“We’re the hell are they?” The only one to arrive on time was Allison, looking glamorous with her expensive dress and high-heels. The rich actress had reserved a big table at a more private corner of the restaurant.</p><p>Her daughter was at home met him four years ago and instantly fell in love with the charming and intelligent man. Thankfully, he also got along perfectly with Claire who was now under her official custody because Patrick got charged with tax fraud.</p><p>“Hello dear sister!” The next one to arrive was surprisingly Klaus, who came in a rush and got the attention of the entire restaurant with her loud greetings and flamboyant coat. Klaus was a clothing designer working for a famous brand, he absolutely loved his job. “Where is everyone?”</p><p>“You’re surprisingly the first one” Allison answered as she poured two glasses of champagne for her and her brother “Come here, sit! You have to talk to me about your new suitor.”</p><p>Klaus giggled and blushed “His name is Dave! He’s a real gentleman, he’s so generous and goofy, a true kid a heart, but a strong man in bed”</p><p>He finished the last sentence with a wink and made his sister laugh. Dave was Luther’s coworkers, they were both in the military and became good friends, which is why Luther had kindly set him up with his brother.</p><p>Speaking of the devil, the next one to get to the table was big old Luther “Hey guys”</p><p>“Luther hey!” Allison gut up to hug him enthusiastically, they rarely saw him lately because he was always out of the country doing his part for the country, he was very proud of his position.</p><p>Right behind him was Vanya who was sweaty and out of breath from running “Sorry I’m late! The recital was longer than expected” </p><p>She sat down and greeted everyone joyfully. Vanya had become a lot more open and energetic since she found the love of her life, Sissy, and moved in with her and her son, Harland. She was also very proud of her first chair place in a sumptuous orchestra.</p><p>“It’s okay V, at least you’re not the last one,” Allison said as she sipped on her champagne glass. They continued chatting together until they heard a man called at them from the other side of the room.</p><p>“Happy birthday fam!” Diego yelled as he walked to the table with a cocky smile and greasy long hair. He sat next to Klaus and side hugged him.</p><p>“Hello!” they all greeted him with love, his cheerfulness was influencing the entire table. “Why are you so happy? And where’s Five?”</p><p>“Oh we don’t live together anymore, I moved out!” Diego said calmly.</p><p>“What?!” The other siblings practically screamed. It was no secret that they were all particularly protective of Five, their slightly younger brother. After attentively taking care of him for years, it became natural for them to get worried about him for the smallest things. Five didn’t mind all the attention, he was thankful to have people being so attentive of him.</p><p>Diego was usually the most vigilant when it came to little Number Five, so it was weird to see him so relaxed about letting him live alone “Yeah I moved in with Patch last week, but don’t worry I already evaluated the entire situation. She lives close to the apartment so I can check up on him every day, and I will still drive him to work and invite him over all weekend. Everything’s under control.”</p><p>They were secretly impressed by him, only Vanya questioned the first part of the story “How come you’re back with Patch? She hates your ass.</p><p>Diego frowned at his sister “For your information, everyone wants a piece of this. She couldn’t resist”</p><p>Five came in last, he appeared out of nowhere and sneaked beside the table quietly “Hi”</p><p>His five siblings jumped, nobody had seen him come. The slim man snickered, his perfect smile glowing. Klaus replaced his scarf and hissed “Five, you scared the bejesus out of me!”</p><p>The green-eyed man snickered and sat down in the empty place “It’s nice to see you all.”</p><p>The greeting and catching up continued as they all looked at the menu and ordered their meals and drinks. They all looked sophisticated and acted so politely, just like when they ate with dad when they were kids, only this time the table was filled with love, laughter, and good news.</p><p>Diego tapped his crystal glass in a ridiculously loud move to catch everyone’s attention “Now that we’re all here, I have some news to share.”</p><p>Five smiled as if he already knew what this was about, he hid his excited expression as best as he could to let Diego have his moment.</p><p>“The reason why Patch and I moved in together so soon… is because we’re pregnant” as the last word left the man’s mouth, his siblings reacted with gasps, claps, hugs, and cheerful congratulations.</p><p>It was adorable, to say the least, they couldn’t be more excited about having a new family member. A little baby lighting up the mood and bringing prosperity to their homes. They would be the best uncles and aunts they could be.</p><p>“I’m going to be a dad!” Diego added with a smile and everyone was so proud of him.</p><p>Five looked quite unsurprised with the news because he found out about the pregnancy at the same time Diego did. They were sitting in the living room when Patch showed up crying with the seven positive pregnancy tests she took. While they both freaked out and fought, Five tried to calm them down and resonate with them. After an afternoon of craziness, the reencountered couple decided it was the right decision to raise this child together. For the following weeks, Five helped Patch with her nausea and mood swings, he helped Diego through with his anxiety attacks and daily freaks out, and he even helped them move in together and put together a gorgeous gender-neutral nursery.</p><p>Diego finally turned to his former roommate and softly asked “Five, I know is still too early to decide but I’m pretty sure about this, would you like to be the godfather?”</p><p>Five’s jaw dropped, he was not expecting that. “What- me? Are you sure?”</p><p>“Honestly, no. I know you don’t have children, but that doesn’t matter, you’ve helped me through these last few weeks, and you’ve been my best friend for the last 5 years, there’s nobody I trust more than you. Plus, I’ve seen you with Claire and Harland, I know you’re great with kids, you’re going to be an amazing godfather.”</p><p>Tears filled little number Five, he got up and hugged Diego tightly as the older one kissed his head. Logically speaking, Five wasn’t the best choice to take care of a child, considering his PTSD, anxiety, communicating issues, and other issues. He didn’t even have anyone to raise it with, he was diagnosed with HSDD and along the line had stopped looking for a partner altogether. At least he had his dog, Mr. Penycumb, a puppy trained to help him through his panic attacks, night terrors, and other PTSD side effect he was still dealing with.</p><p>With Diego out of the apartment, the last month had been the first time in his entire life that Five lived alone. It’s not like he was incapable, he had a well-paid job as a mathematics professor at an Ivy League college and he spent his free time in a research lab doing calculus with other geniuses, so he had all the money and intelligence he needed to make it out alone. Plus, over the years Diego had taught him how to pay taxes, shop for clothes, cook healthy meals, and even how to defend himself in a fight. Five was all set, ready to start a new chapter of his life. </p><p>“Thank you so much for choosing me, I won’t let you down,”  Five said as he discreetly cleaned his tears.</p><p>“If you guys are open to name suggestions, I’m sure the names ‘Klaus’ or ‘Klausettte’ will fit perfectly.” Klaus said playfully and made the others chuckle</p><p>“Actually, we were thinking about “Nicholas’ for a boy, because it’s her father’s name, and for a girl, we want ‘Grace’.” Diego said with sad eyes and everyone nodded in agreement.</p><p> It was hard to talk about mom because 4 years ago her system had finally shut down for good and there is nothing Pogo and Five didn’t try to reanimate her. Speaking of Pogo, the old chimpanzee sadly passed away a year ago after seventy wild years of life.</p><p>The conversation continued for two hours. They talked about Luther’s last date with a girl he met at a club, about Diego’s non-existent parenting skills, about Allison’s new loving home, and about the ring that Vanya had bought to propose to Sissy next weekend.</p><p>Five sat comfortably on his seat and listened to the entire conversation, realizing how jubilant his siblings were as they spoke. He didn’t have much to say for himself, he was quiet for most of the night, but he was a great listener.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>At the end of the night, they all hugged goodbye and head home to their loved ones. Five decided to walk under the beautiful stars to take a break from reality. The streets were almost empty, the air was chilly, the lights were beautiful, and Five couldn’t take off the small smile on his face.</p><p>As he walked, he thought about his little niece Claire, his future godchild, his soon-to-be nephew in law Harland, and how he was thankful to see them grow up. He thought about the invitation to the fashion show hosted by Klaus next week, and about Allison’s invitation to her movie premiere in a couple of days, and about Vanya’s concert coming up, and all the other events he almost wasn’t a part of.</p><p>Suddenly his thoughts became a little sadder. He started remembering everything he went through, all the atrocities he somehow managed to survive, and the people who helped him get past that.</p><p>“Everything can only go up from here. Whatever life throws at you, you’ll just get up and keep moving ahead. We’ll be here to help every step of the way.”</p><p>It was a spontaneous speech he heard from Klaus the night he came back from the hospital after his only suicide attempt. He thought about them every time he was on the verge of crying, screaming, or simply giving up on anything. He remembered that he had people to live for, life goals to accomplished, and a million little things on his bucket list like ride a horse or go scuba diving.</p><p>He knew he could do it, he knew he was strong enough, at this point he felt invincible. He was practically bulletproof.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>THE END.</p><p>You guys have no idea how much I'll miss writing this story. I wasn't even sure where this would go after the second chapter but I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed sharing it. I never thought this would get so many hits, thank you so freaking much!</p><p>Now I'll try to continue my four other TUA fics, please give them a shot if you liked this one!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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